James Hamling

James Lewis Hamling, distinguished business leader, mentor, volunteer, Father, and Grandfather, died on April 10, 2023, at age 81, in his beloved Amelia Island, Florida.

Jim rose to prominence as a businessman while serving for over 40 years with the Berwind Corporation of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, a service that began in 1975 as President of Perfect Equipment in Nashville, Tennessee and culminated in 2017 when he stepped down from the Berwind Board of Advisors. In that span, 23 of his years were as CEO, first as CEO of the Industrial Group from 1983 - 2001 and then as CEO of the Berwind Corporation from 2001-2006.

Jim will be remembered by friends and family as an instinctual and aspirational leader who never slowed down in life until the very end. Always up for a new project to keep him busy, Jim was always renovating something. Sometimes it was a company and sometimes it was a house. But it was always something. "The grass never grew under Jim Hamling's feet," one of his colleagues fondly proclaimed. Whether in service to his family, his career, or his volunteerism, Jim always left things better than he found them.

As the middle child of three, Jim was born in Aurora, Illinois to William and Alice Hamling. He attended East Aurora High and went on to graduate from nearby Aurora University. After graduation in the early 1960s, Jim was hired by the esteemed Carnation Corporation and served in roles in both Detroit and Los Angeles. After much early success, he was recruited back to the Chicago area to become the youngest Vice President in the history of the Maremont Corporation - a giant manufacturer and distributor of automotive parts.

It is from there that Berwind came calling. Jim and family moved to Nashville in the early 1970s because Jim was hired to turn around Berwind's failing wheel weight manufacturer, Perfect Equipment. And turn around it did. As President, Jim put a focus on customer service to steal share from their much larger competition. "Those Goliaths were so big, they never paid attention to customer's needs. So, Jim did. He let them choose quantities, labels, everything. He understood everything they wanted and left the competition in the dust," says former colleague Tom Willingham.

Turning around this brand so rapidly and successfully led to Jim's promotion to CEO of Berwind's Industrial Group, a role that briefly took him and family to Philadelphia before ultimately returning to Nashville.

With Jim as CEO of the Industrial Group for 20 years, Berwind saw unprecedented growth and success. As such, Jim was promoted to CEO of the entire company from 2001 until 2006.

He also served on their Board of Advisors for over 20 years, serving as Co-Chair for 3 of those. "He was the absolute Gold Standard for everyone we've ever had here...not only in how he conducted himself but how he treated others. He was absolutely loved," says Berwind Chief Financial Officer Ray Baran.

In talking to others, one word kept rising to the top: mentor. Multiple major executives reached out and used that word time and time again. Perhaps, that is why Jim's mentorship continued well after his corporate career ended. While living in Asheville, North Carolina, Jim started dedicating his life to mentoring others. Not only did he serve on the Board of Directors for Asheville's Habitat for Humanity, but he also began mentoring adults who wished to return to school to pursue a college degree.

Jim's father passed away when he was only 8 years old, and he and his siblings were raised by a single mother whose lifelong dream of going back to college had to be put on hold to support her family. It is because of her strength and selfless dedication that Jim established the Alice D. Hamling Foundation in 2012. To date, it has helped over 100 individuals realize the dream of a college education.

In addition to his charitable work, Jim's later years were filled with passions near and dear to his heart: travel and family. Taking yearly trips to Italy and the islands of Florida with partner Bev Tavener and gathering his family for holiday breaks to far and distant beaches, Jim never met a city he didn't want to explore. And he loved doing it with the people he loved.

Surviving to cherish and celebrate his memory are his children, Timothy Hamling of College Park, GA, Thomas Hamling of Nashville, TN, and Kathleen Wassiliew of Bethesda, MD; his grandchildren, Owen, Cole, Evie, William and Quinn; his brother William Hamling and sister Linda Curtin.

A celebration of Jim's life will be held in Amelia Island on June 10th, with details to follow. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made in Jim Hamling's name to: The Alice D. Hamling Foundation 5237 River Rd #259, Bethesda, MD 20816.