James "Jim" Bieri

06/13/1927 - 04/18/2025

Jim Bieri, age 97, died peacefully at home in Austin, TX, on April 18, 2025, with his loving wife of 46 years, Sandra Joseph Bieri, at his side. Jim was a retired professor of clinical psychology and literature at the University of Texas at Austin. His crowning life achievement, after decades of research in England and Italy, is his acclaimed biography of the Romantic poet, Percy Bysshe Shelley. Jim was born June 13, 1927 to Elsie Genther Bieri and Vice Admiral Bernhard H. Bieri in Walter Reed Hospital in Washington, DC. The youngest of five brothers, Jim excelled at his studies and at playing classical piano, which he kept up his entire life. At age 14, Jim was living in Honolulu with his mother and brother Robert when Japanese planes bombed Pearl Harbor (his father was fortuitously out at sea). Jim often recounted his eyewitness memories of this pivotal life event. Jim enlisted in the Navy after graduating from Woodrow Wilson (now Jackson-Reed) High School in DC. He then attended Antioch College in Ohio (class of 1950), and earned his PhD in psychology at The Ohio State University in 1953. He taught at Harvard, Columbia, Brooklyn College, and UT-Austin, and maintained a psychotherapy practice in Austin. Jim was a progressive thinker with a sharp wit and and imparted his opinions on poetry, politics, fine arts and fine food with gusto. His three children carry on his love of camping and hiking. World travelers, Jim and Sandi spent many years living in the DC area, where both were active members of the Woman's National Democratic Club. Memorial Service held May 24 in Austin, TX.