James Wells

1945 - 2025

James (Jim) Woodrow Wells, age 79, passed away at home in Rio Oso, CA, on Saturday, September 27, 2025. Born on October 17, 1945, in Glendale, CA, Jim lived in the city of San Fernando throughout his childhood and early adult years.

Jim was a devoted husband and amazing father who demonstrated a complete and unconditional love for his family every day. He was a great man and the many words on this page cannot possibly describe the breadth of his character or the love his family felt for him. He was affectionate and caring; devoted and dependable; gentle and nurturing; compassionate and generous; warmhearted; fiercely loyal and protective; hardworking and steadfast; brave and responsible. He was so smart, funny, and so humble. Jim was the heart and the rock of his family. He will be forever missed and never forgotten.

Jim is survived by his wife Jennifer; children Jimmy (Megan), Jack (Ali), Bobby, Billy, Sarah Thornton (Thomas); Grandchildren Cody, Kyle, Cole, William, Christopher, Finn and Walter; multiple great-grandchildren; Brothers Raymond, Russell (Irene), lifelong friend Mike Aldrich (Ammie); nieces and nephews Devyn Frey (Jason), Parker (Caroline), Aaron, Gwendolyn, Delaney, Julie Crigler; and beloved cousins Mike Santander (Susan), Doug Santander (Lillian), and Debbie Betts. Jim is preceded in death by his parents Clyde and Alice and his older brother Bill.

Jim was a member of the first graduating class at Sylmar Highschool in February of 1963 and went on to take classes at Pierce College in Woodland Hills before eventually receiving a B.S. in Zoology from U.C. Davis in 1972. At UC Davis he had planned on pursuing a graduate level degree continuing his study of the communication behaviors of Patas monkeys before his career took him in a different direction.

Jim's first job in the agriculture industry was as a tomato inspector in the Gilroy area for the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA). Jim was dedicated to his work and motivated to succeed, as evidenced by his rapid ascension through the ranks of CDFA. He was also a great listener and understood the challenges that farmers faced because of the increasing regulatory burdens that he was tasked with enforcing. In 1981, Jim was promoted to Chief of Pesticide Enforcement for the entire state and relocated to the Sacramento area (Yuba City). Jim was highly regarded by growers and the greater agriculture industry even as he enacted major changes to California agricultural policy from his office in Sacramento. Jim would make frequent visits to Washington D.C. as a member of the Federal EPA's Children's Health Protection Advisory Committee, Food Safety Advisory Committee for the Food Quality Protection Act, and Worker Protection Advisory Committee for the Federal Worker Protection Standard. Jim was passionate about farmworker safety and was proud to have assisted the federal government in creating new standards which mirrored much of the work that had already been implemented in California.

In 1991, the California Environmental Protection Agency (CalEPA) was created, including a new Department of Pesticide Regulation (CDPR). Jim was appointed by Governor Pete Wilson as the first director of the new department and served until retirement from the state in 1998. Over the following years, Jim held executive positions at Exponent; Novigen Sciences; and Jellinek, Schwartz and Connelly. Later, Jim partnered with George Soares to form his own consultancy, Environmental Solutions Group, a firm specializing in environmental regulatory and policy issues related to pesticide and agricultural chemicals registration and defense, water and air quality and Proposition 65. At retirement, Jim had over 40 years of experience in pesticide regulation and enforcement.

Throughout his career, Jim served on many advisory boards and committees. Notably, Jim spent nearly 20 years on the Methyl Bromide Technical Options Committee (MBTOC) of the Montreal Protocol, an international treaty of the United Nations Environment Programme. The committee was tasked with managing the phase-out of Methyl Bromide by identifying alternatives and granting "critical use exemptions" where necessary. MBTOC meetings took Jim to Kenya, South Africa, Senegal, Morocco, Chile, Argentina, Costa Rica, Mexico, China, Thailand, Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Germany, France, Czech Republic, Israel, Turkey, Japan, and Australia. Jim made great friends and enjoyed his time with his fellow committee members over the years.

Family and friends often joked with Jim that with a travel schedule like his, surely, he must have been engaged in intelligence gathering, not "pesticide regulation." In 1980 they would have been right, but he wasn't slinking around in Bangkok, Paris or Amsterdam. No, Jim instead had the privilege of chasing empty barrels around San Joaquin valley towns like Selma, Dinuba and Tulare. At the time, he held a dual appointment as the Fresno region's Field Supervisor for Pesticide Enforcement and as a Special Agent for the California Department of Justice. He and his partner, the late Bill Stoller, investigated the illegal use and distribution of the banned fumigant DBCP in the San Joaquin Valley. The investigation culminated with the two of them driving an 18-wheeler south towards the Mexican border (luckily, they headed east into Arizona) where they loaded up with black-market DBCP as part of an undercover operation. Jim leaned into the part with his long hair, trucker hat and a pack of Marlboro Reds rolled up in his shirt sleeve. His family loved to hear that story no matter how many times it had been told before.

As focused as Jim was in his professional life, he was equally tenacious when it came to recreation. He loved to camp and fish, and he loved the journeys to get there. Driving up rough windy forest roads looking for the perfect fishing hole, checking his notebook for the mileages where a turn should be expected, a map bigger than the windshield in his cupholder, these were the moments Jim lived for and excelled in. He loved his home away from home at Lake Almanor where he had spent many summers over the last half century. He was a voracious reader and a student of history. He loved Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, Reuben sandwiches and Dominican cigars. He loved listening to music and had an impressive collection of records and mixtapes. He loved his family and was endlessly amazed and impressed by their goings-on. He loved to relax, and he was good at it too.

Possibly his most defining avocation was that he was a huge football fan. A lifelong Los Angeles (and St. Louis) Rams and USC Trojans fan, he wore their respective shirts and hats on Saturdays and Sundays and was sure to drink from his Rams mug on Sundays. While the Trojans never failed to disappoint him, he was steadfast in his fandom. His father Clyde had been getting his Pharmacy degree at USC when Jim was an infant, and on the day of his passing Jim had looked forward to watching a big game between USC and Illinois. He was literally a life-long fan, and now his family will carry that torch for him.

When Jim took the Chief of Pesticide Enforcement job in Sacramento, he moved to Yuba City where his childhood friend Mike Aldrich had relocated some years earlier. Later, Jim and Jennifer married, bought some property, and built a home in Rio Oso with young sons Jimmy and Jack. As a young boy, Jim had always dreamed of having some property and the privacy that comes with it. At home, he loved gardening, caring for his roses and digging up various plants that weren't doing well to find them a better spot. Ten acres of eucalyptus trees kept him busy too. Over the course of his nearly 30 years on the property he installed many miles of drip line and many dozens of irrigation timers. He also had about fifteen 1-gallon pump sprayers specifically labeled for each of his favorite pesticide mixes which he would fill and spray carefully, while wearing the appropriate protective equipment of course. The last several years he had been in brutal conflict with squirrels who wreaked havoc on his hoses and sprinklers. Even so, he maintained a true oasis for his family, up to and extending past his last day with us. He loved to look at the stars and would stand outside staring up at the sky late into the night. Jim loved being reminded of his southern California childhood through the handful of palms and pepper trees he planted in the backyard. Jim often commented that he had achieved his boyhood dreams and how happy he was to be here.