James Edward "Jim" Armstrong

Surrounded by his loving family, James Edward Armstrong passed away in his home in Greenville, SC, on December 1, 2025 after a lengthy struggle with lymphoma. Jim was grateful to have reached his final goal: celebrating his 63rd birthday in the company of his family.
The youngest of eight children, he was born to the late Eleanor and Matthew Armstrong on October 15, 1962, in Binghamton, NY. Jim graduated from John T. Hoggard High School in Wilmington, NC, in 1980. Before his family's move to NC, he attended Seton Catholic Central High School, where he credited a ninth-grade teacher for his eventually earning a BFA from East Carolina University, and beginning a career in fine art. Together with his wife Aimee, his full partner and creative director, he achieved his magnum opus: a deep, rich family life with their two daughters, Elinore and Jane Armstrong.
A widely-admired artist of varied media - oils, pastels, computer graphics, and photographs, among them - Jim produced his post-college work in California, where he met and married Aimee. Early on, he made commercial art via computer for corporate clients in technology and entertainment. In time, he moved his creative space into the back of a pickup truck where he produced plein air oil paintings featured in magazines, wineries, and private collections. Later in his South Carolina studio, he worked on canvas, metal, film, sketch pads, and wood. An accomplished cook, he shone in his home with his pizza ovens, sauté pans, and curated recipes.
Professionally, Jim is best known for his landscapes. His finely wrought paintings hang in galleries, on collectors' walls throughout the nation, and in the homes and hearts of his large extended family. In his own home, though, Jim displayed the artwork of treasured friends and mentors before his own, front and center in his entry hall. To his passing, Jim took care of his family, honored others first, and was sustained by a deep understanding of the power and necessity of creativity in one's life. He wrote, "Creating art gives life." Similarly, he said about the creative process, "It doesn't care about an end product, a gallery show, or publisher deadline. It seems to show up when the work is just for the work...[it's] learning how to get to a place where you're open to receive it."
A gifted mason, capable auto mechanic, skilled fisherman, studied audiophile, and effective communicator, Jim lived a fully engaged life; he was, himself, a work of art. Above all, he treasured Aimee and their daughters.
Throughout his career, Jim donated artwork for auction on behalf of causes he embraced. He opened his studio to fellow artists for life drawing lessons. He shared freely what he had learned about living the creative life and managing the business of art in order to make a living.
As his disease progressed, Jim bore the effects of his illness and treatment with humor, grace, well-fitting black hats, and a paintbrush between his teeth. In the midst of side effects, he proclaimed himself a Stanley Tucci lookalike. "Art will get me through, as always," he insisted, "No need to fear what's to come next week/month. There [are] 1000 ways of dying." He shifted in his final months from creating landscapes, his focus over decades, to producing more than 200 catawampus pen and ink drawings of bird houses and fish during his treatment, explaining that he needed to draw daily to "stay in shape." He honed his still life compositions hour after hour until he could snap the photograph that would tell a story.
With courage, Jim and his family faced his impending death. In his last weeks, Aimee, Elinore, and Jane knew instinctively which stylus to hand him, which olive oil he'd need for his pizza dough, how much to say, and what to leave unsaid. It was a time in which he learned "to carry my bed into the sun." Now, it is easy to picture Jim, ever the artist, delighting the angels with his new color palette and heavenly plein air paintings, while wrapped in "the peace of God, which surpasses all expectations." (Philippians 4:17)
In addition to his wife and daughters, Jim leaves behind his seven older siblings: Michael Armstrong, Marie Whitacre (Lew), Ellen Laird (Ed), Noreen McKenna, Robert Armstrong (Sabrina), JoAnn Purdy (Steve), Thomas Armstrong, and Marty Delaney (Rebecca); as well as many nieces and nephews. He was pre-deceased by his parents and his brother-in-law, Jim McKenna.
The Armstrong family wishes to thank Jim's many compassionate and kind caregivers at Prisma Cancer Institute, Greer and Eastside, with special gratitude to Dr. Concetta Gardziola and Dr. Liz Cull. They are also grateful for the excellent care given by VIA Palliative and Hospice Care.
Those who wish may contribute in Jim's honor to Leukemia & Lymphoma Society at https://leukemiarf.org/donate/.
Jim's life will be celebrated with a private family Mass of Christian burial.
Friends are encouraged to share their favorite memories of Jim with the family by clicking on the button labeled "Share A Memory". To send flowers to the family or plant a tree in memory of James "Jim", please visit our floral store.