James Frederick Pearson

James F. Pearson, 93, of Chanhassen, passed away peacefully on June 18, 2025, at NC Little Hospice in Edina.
Jim was preceded in death by his beloved wife of 62 years, Joy Adele (Adolphson), his parents Carl and Annabel (Russ) Pearson, his brother Doug Pearson, and sister Andrea Pearson. He is survived by his daughter Betsy Jacobs (Loran), son Dan Pearson, grandchildren Annabel Hughes (David), Caroline Jacobs, Henry Jacobs, Andreas Pearson, and Fredrik Pearson, great grandchild Theodore Hughes, and by many wonderful nieces and nephews.
Jim was born in Minneapolis on March 20, 1932. His parents moved the family between Pine City, MN, Leonia, NJ, Red Wing, MN, and Minot, ND, before they settled back in Minneapolis, where Jim attended and graduated from Southwest High School in 1950. He ran cross country and track and was a letter winner on the Southwest City and State Championship Cross Country team. Summers were spent canoeing in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area and at a Boy Scout camp in northern MN, earning the rank of Eagle Scout and overcoming a 10-day hospital stay for an infection caused by poison ivy. He credits his love of canned peas to 3 summers spent with his Grandma Russ in Blue Earth, MN, working at the Green Giant cannery.
He attended the University of Minnesota and received his BA in 1954 and later went back to earn his MBA in 1963. He was a member of the Beta Theta Pi fraternity and an avid Gophers fan who could remember key plays and scores from countless past Gopher football games.
Between college degrees, Jim served in the US Army as a records specialist and was stationed from 1954-56 in Heidelberg, Germany. He traveled to 16 countries during his enlistment.
Jim started his career in the insurance industry and between 1956 and 1968 worked in Minneapolis with Prudential, Blue Cross Blue Shield, and Ministers Life. It was during those years, in 1961, that he met a woman at his apartment building mailbox. He courted her, and on November 10, 1962, they were married. Jim and Joy lived in south Minneapolis and had 2 children. His insurance vocation would relocate the family to the Wisconsin cities of Stevens Point, Madison, and Onalaska. Jim retired in 1994, and he and Joy moved to Plymouth, MN, where they lived close to their children, grandchildren, and three of Joy's sisters.
Jim enjoyed singing in the church choir, volunteering for Meals on Wheels, being a member of Kiwanis Club, volunteering at church, attending musical concerts, and attending any activity that his grandchildren were involved in. Our family is blessed with fond memories of Jim. His love/hate relationship with golf, including a hole in one, his amazing organizational skills, his love of music, and his ability to harmonize along to any song, always having dessert after every meal, his love of the Gophers, Twins, and Vikings, always writing with golf pencils, his love of checking the mailbox every day, reading the Star Tribune every day from front to back, and for having his camera at every event and taking one photo. But most of all, we will remember how much he loved his family.
A celebration of his life will be held at Pilgrim United Methodist Church, 4325 Zachary Lane, Plymouth, MN, on July 9, 2025 at 11 a.m. with visitation one hour prior.
In lieu of flowers, please send memorials to: Pilgrim United Methodist Church https://www.pilgrimgmc.org/ or TPT https://e.tpt.org/page/81190/donate/1