James C. "Jim" McDiarmid III

James C. "Jim" McDiarmid III died at his home in Columbia, Maryland on March 31 at age 92. The U.S. Army veteran could count many achievements over the course of his distinguished career, but nothing compared in his eyes to his wife and family. Born in Istanbul, Turkey, to an American father and a Greek mother, he held dual citizenship. The family moved to North Carolina and then New York City, where he began a string of storied accomplishments. The high-school drummer lied about his age to qualify as a member of Musicians Union Local 802, playing for weddings and other events at nearby venues such as the St. Moritz and Waldorf Astoria hotels.

Jim entered New York University, but in 1948 he did a stint with the Army 2nd Armored Division and was called back a year later for the Korean War. After returning to the reserves, he worked for a time in Wall Street with a New York Stock Exchange broker but found he didn't care for the work. He subsequently completed his B.A. at Columbia University and went on to obtain a combined M.S. from Columbia's Graduate School of Business and School of Engineering in 1955. While in college, he worked as a purchasing agent for a defense manufacturer and picked out a wife as well! He and Norma celebrated their 67th wedding anniversary in 2021.

Jim began his atomic power career in Pittsburgh under the late Admiral Rickover. Beginning in 1957 at age 27, Jim managed Westinghouse's outside contracting of much of the research, development, fabrication of nuclear components, and construction of new buildings. He also directed the manufacture of the first aircraft carrier reactor fuel, for the Enterprise aircraft carrier. His nuclear career continued in Niagara Falls where he became Director of Administration for a defense contractor. Jim left the nuclear industry in 1957 and joined the Hertz Corporation in Maryland. He progressed to Zone Manager (Trucks) for four states. In 1973, he founded his own distribution company with ten trucks. Command Cargo grew to 600 trucks and 12 overnight distribution centers in eight states, providing overnight service for numerous Fortune 1000 companies for many years. Jim later handled logistics, supply chain and change manufacture consulting for a number of companies. He became Executive Director at the American Trucking Association for the package and air express industries, and is listed in the 1995 Who's Who in Association Management.

No matter how busy he was, Jim always had a heart for community service. He loved playing an active role in the events of the St. Andrew's Society, and he was a long-time St. Andrew's Society Foundation Trustee and Treasurer. He especially enjoyed marching in the St. Andrew's Society parade segment of the annual Alexandria (Va.) Christmas Walk.

While in Niagara Falls, the former Boy Scouts Life Scout became a Boy Scouts of America Scout Commissioner and then a District Scout Chairman. It was also there that he joined the Lewiston, New York, Rotary Club. When Jim re-located to Maryland, he was co-founder and Charter Secretary of the Columbia Rotary Club, the first Rotary club in Columbia. In 2003 he was elected District Governor of Rotary District 7620, comprising 68 Rotary Clubs and 2800 Rotarians across Maryland and D.C. While his contributions during his tenure were many, he would probably be proudest of his Safe Blood initiative. Collaborating with the Pan American Health Organization, Jim established a Rotary organization to ensure a supply of safe donor blood in seven Latin American countries to arrest the horrific growth of AIDS. Representatives visited Rotary Clubs in each country to encourage the acceptance and operation of safe blood drives and community blood donation. He remained active in Rotary until he passed away.

Jim supported several other causes as well. He freely donated behind-the-scenes time supporting Howard County FIRN (Foreign-born Information and Referral Network, Inc.) English-language tutoring for non-native speakers. Jim was also a fixture at the Howard County General Hospital Foundation. And he was a Council Member and Committee Chair for the Bain Senior Center Council in Columbia, where he remained active until his death. Jim's many awards included the 2002 Distinguished Service Award from the St. Andrew's Society of Baltimore; a commendation from the Pan American Health Organization for his Safe Blood initiative; and the 2000 Rotary District Humanitarian Citizen Award.

Jim is survived by his wife Norma. They have a daughter, Darrell Stevens, and a son, Scott, in Maryland. Their son Douglas lives in Arizona. They have two grandchildren, Jocelyn and Carter, in Maryland and one grandson, Brian, in Louisiana. Donations in lieu of flowers are requested for the Parkinson's Foundation at https://www.parkinson.org.