James Alexander

July 7, 1934 - June 3, 2025 It's a sad day, because we have lost the GOAT. James Alexander, 90, beloved husband, father, and grandfather, passed away on June 3. To all who knew him, he was a huge force in their lives. Confident, sweet, bright, nutty, and incredibly funny. He built a life for himself that exceeded his dreams, and he wished that on everybody he met.
He was like a crazed Willy Wonka, sweeping up anybody who casually met him into believing they could achieve the impossible. He loved big plans, crackpot schemes, and the idea that life could always be FUN. He showered his kids with a dune buggy and endless card games and salamis and chocolate candy. He had "Do anything you want with your dad day." He would bring random guys to the family house for dinner, because he had met them an hour earlier. He was always POSITIVE. He was always curious and interested.
Jim loved his wife, Marsha, more than anything. He raved about her. They met on a blind date, and he was smitten for life. He loved his four children to pieces. He loved his sisters, and their kids, and their husbands, and his in-laws. He never missed a recital, or a school show, or a baseball game. When his kids got married, he doted on their spouses and made them feel included. He adored his grandchildren, and again, he never missed a recital, or a school show, or a baseball game.
Life was an adventure. Let's go bobsledding! Let's sneak into that movie premiere! Let's cook fried eggs in bacon grease! Jim thought pomposity was silly. His office was littered with trash and Big Gulps and torn-out newspaper articles that he liked to share. He drank Diet Coke like a bladder torture experiment gone awry.
He loved jazz, particularly pianists Erroll Garner and Oscar Peterson. He was kind and enjoyed mentoring young people. He was endlessly generous - except with chicken wings. Chicken wings he hoarded for himself.
He believed anybody could achieve anything. His life started rough. He was a Depression baby. His father died when he was three. His mother, overwhelmed, put him and his sisters into an orphanage. These were abject circumstances. His mom eventually got them back, but she died when he was in high school. This made him and Joan and Sally extraordinarily driven. They created the lives they wish they had had: Lifelong marriages. Financial stability. Tight relationships with their kids.
He always had to work, but he didn't mind it. As a 12-year-old busboy, he worked at The Apple Pan, opening day. He worked in sports marketing, with the new-to-L.A. Dodgers. He worked closely with Sandy Koufax, Don Drysdale and Duke Snider. Sometimes he pretended to be a senator, so that his family could get a table of six.
What a life! He loved numbers, and he became a stock broker. He eventually opened his own firm. He put together community banks. He built apartments and condos. He got involved with avocado groves and solar panels and salt water soda. Some of these were terrible ideas, but they were new and wacky and exciting, and he liked that. It was fun.
Jim loved sports. He woke up at 4am to play handball. He had shelves of handball trophies. He also excelled at basketball, football, and tennis. He loved to coach kids and to make sure they enjoyed it. He loved to laugh and to make other people laugh.
He kept overcoming adversity. His son died. His wife died. But he kept going. Kept smiling. Kept lighting up every room he entered.
Sometimes we walk with giants. And that giant was Jim Alexander.
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Jim was pre-deceased by his wife Marsha and his son Derek. He is survived by his son Scott Alexander (Debbie), daughter Cara Steinberg (Robert), son Timothy Alexander, and his nine grandchildren, Dietrich, Ryan, Casey, Lucas, Jeremy, Lily, Lexi, Amber, and Theo.
Services Friday, June 13, at 10:00 AM at Mount Sinai Mortuary, 5950 Forest Lawn Drive. Reception to follow. In lieu of flowers, please make donations to The Alzheimer's Association.