James E. Sharp Sr.

1938 - 2023

James E Sharp, Sr.
July 7, 1938 - April 12, 2023
Modesto, California - Jim Sharp left us on April 12, 2023. He leaves his bride, Bobbi, of 62 years, three children – James Sharp, Jr., Michael Sharp (Eileen), and Jennifer Hartmann along with five grandchildren.
Born in San Francisco, Jim attended Cappuccino High in San Mateo. He was an exceptional athlete from an early age. He was a championship winning roller skating pairs dancer and a three-sport star in high school – football (quarterback), baseball (pitcher) and basketball (center). When he graduated high school, he was offered a contract to pitch for the Chicago White Sox but chose to go to college instead. In college, he was a standout player in both football and baseball.
He had three loves in his life – "His Bride" (as he called Bobbi until the day he died) and their family, Bel Passi Baseball, and the business he started: Hazard Management Services.
Jim always said he considered himself "the luckiest man on the face of the earth" to have been married to Bobbi, They had a rich, fulfilling relationship which, in his words, "Only got better and better and better." She encouraged him to finish college, develop his career at Shell Development and eventually to create an environmental consulting company.
As a Dad, Jim did all the things. He taught his kids to throw, hit and catch a ball, how to fish, how to fix just about anything on cars or around the house, carpentry, and more. He took the kids camping, coached his boys in little league and bought his daughter a horse. Hell, he even ate broccoli until the day the last kid moved out, just to set a fine example.
Shortly after Jim and his family moved to Modesto in 1967, he got involved in the Bel Passi Baseball program. Over the years he gave to Bel Passi as a spectator, coach, baseball commissioner, umpire commissioner, president, and then as an assistant coach for his son, Mike – who coached Jim's grandchildren Erica, Grey and Jake. He was actively involved in Bel Passi for a total of nearly 40 years.
In 1984 Jim left a career that taken him from doing research that led to products such as the Shell No Pest Strip and the Hartz Flea Collar to working for the Nevada then California OSHA agencies, and founded Hazard Management Services. HMS helped schools, governmental agencies, and the private sector to comply with regulations dealing with hazardous materials. The company employed over 150 people over the years.
Later in life he was a member, and at one point served as president, of the Us Too - Prostrate Cancer Support Group.
Services will include a Funeral Mass at St. Anthony's Church on Fox Road in Hughson, CA at 10:00 AM on Tuesday May 9.
For anyone so inclined, the family would ask that rather than sending flowers, please instead make a small donation to your local little league program, to the US TOO Prostrate Cancer Support Group, or to any cancer research organization.