James Welsh

James Welsh, the son of Joseph Leo Welsh and Bessie Tangires Welsh, passed away on March 3, 2019 in Long Beach. James was born on September 10, 1947 in Baltimore, Maryland, where he attended parochial schools. After graduating high school, he volunteered to serve in the US Army during the Vietnam War, where he reached the rank of staff sergeant and served as a military intelligence officer. After the war, he received a bachelors degree from the University of Maryland. He briefly attended St. Mary's Ecumenical Seminary with an eye to becoming a Catholic priest, however he left the school without taking holy orders. Through his father, a turf accountant at Pimlico Racecourse, James found employment as mutuel manager of the Freestate Raceway, where he worked for many years under Frank DeFrancis. In retirement, he became an evangelical Christian and ardent student of the Bible. He was a member of Christians United for Israel (CUFI) and paid for the immigration of several Jewish families to Israel. A few years before his death, he was ordained as a messianic rabbi through the Esoteric Interfaith Theological Seminary in Florida. He is survived
by his brother and two nephews.