James A. Rogers, Jr.

                                                         JAMES A. ROGERS, Jr.

James A. Rogers. Jr., 100, passed on January 9, 2023.   James is survived by his children Matt Rogers and his wife Lisa, of Ridgewood NJ, Nancy Rogers Bontempo and her husband Pete of Highlands NJ, and Liam Rogers and his wife Laurie of Ho-Ho-Kus, NJ and 13 grandchildren, and 4 greatgrandchildren, all to whom he was eternally devoted.    Jim was predeceased by his wife of 59 years, Kathleen (nee Murphy) in 2009, and by his sons Jim and Tom in 2005.   Jim and Kathleen Rogers moved to Ramsey in 1952 and remained residents of the Borough until this present day. They raised their 5 children in Ramsey. Jim’s 70 years in the Borough has left a significant mark on the Borough and the community.

Jim was born in Brooklyn, on Decatur Street January 14, 1922, attended St. Augustine’s high School in Park Slope, and graduated from St. John’s University in 1943 completing a Bachelor’s degree in Chemistry in three years in order to qualify for the Naval Reserve program, which he entered right after graduating.  After training, on an LCI (Landing Craft Infantry 527) he travelled to UK and France for the D Day invasion, and to the Mediterranean Sea to continue delivering US UK, Moroccan and French Colonial troops to Italy and France, and then to the Pacific theater, to bring in help where needed, mine sweeping in Nagasaki harbor 6 weeks after the bomb was dropped.   He was honorably discharged in 1946. He said that for the first time he was doing what he wanted to do all his life. He got to travel the world and meet all types of people, and able to fight for his country and the freedom of mankind.

Jim served the Borough of Ramsey as a member of the Board of Health since 1966 and served as its President from 1993 to 2018 when he retired as President. Jim has also served on various Committees and civic organizations throughout the years and has been a coach of many Ramsey youth sports teams. 

Jim started the first men’s softball league: started the Ramsey Blood Bank affiliated with Valley Hospital; was a member of the Boards of Ramsey Junior Football and Ramsey Baseball Association; coached and umpired in the youth recreation baseball and softball programs; worked the concessions stands for both; organized and set up the first night game for Junior Football at Ramsey High School; was a troop Leader of Troop 31 Boy Scouts; was awarded the Volunteer of the Year by Bergen County in 1998.

Jim and his wife Kathleen and family were parishioners of St. Paul’s Church in Ramsey since moving to Ramsey in 1952. He has been a Trustee of St. Paul Church since 1956 and was a trustee at the time of his death.   He was a member of the St. Paul's Finance Committee, and the Parish Council; he was the founder of the St. Paul’s Holy Name Society; the founder of the Knights of Columbus Chapter 3962 in Ramsey; founded the St. Paul’s Bingo program; Jim and Kathleen were at all stages of development of St. Paul Church and its parochial school.      

He spent most of his professional life as an analytical chemist in charge of research and development and manufacturing for a prominent flavor and fragrance company, Fritzsche Dodge and Olcott (FDO) in NYC, including traveling around the world to source products for the flavor and fragrance industry.  Jim wrote a book titled “The Flavor and Fragrance Industry” in 1978. Fritzsche Dodge and Olcott (FDO) in NYC was a company that provided the food, cosmetic and pharmaceutical industries with essential oils – flavors and fragrances.  He was the first scientist to convert Scoville units for HEAT in hot peppers (Capsaicin) into actual measurements, using ultraviolet (UV) light. The company also got into Gas Chromatography (GC). FDO had a Gas Chromatograph at its facilities in Garfield, and then coupled it with a Mass Spectrophotometer (MS) in Clifton. FDO was the first in the industry to couple GC/MS which are still coupled in every chemistry lab across the world today. Jim presented more than 20 times at professional meetings and has more than 30 peer reviewed publications in scientific journals.

 He was at the center of some amazing and still-used chemical instrumental innovations.

During the war, he travelled to Ireland for the first time and formed a deep connection with land and the people.  In the 1970s, Jim and Kathleen and over saw construction of a vacation home in Ireland which they used extensively throughout retirement. Becoming fixtures in the local community.  Having this home away from home has allowed his family to deepen this connection with relatives and friends in Ballyhack, County Wexford.

Although never asking for recognition or praise in return, Jim has truly led his life for family, country and church and is a living example of what makes St. Paul's parish and the borough of Ramsey the great communities they are.  On the celebration of Jims 100th birthday, the mayor of Ramsey declared January 14 to be “JIM ROGERS DAY” in the Borough of Ramsey.     

Anyone that met Jim was drawn to his spirit, his smile, his singing, his laugh, his optimism, his joyous way.  Every day he woke up, and got dressed, and was so happy, so happy, to be alive. To be in the company of others, and in the company of God. It wasn’t that Jim lived for 100 years. It was that he was alive for 100 years. 

In lieu of flowers, the family suggests a donation to St. Paul RC Church or to Catholic Relief Services http://crs.org/

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