Foto
Compartir
James Joseph Tarrant

James Joseph Tarrant

16 marzo, 1950 - 30 enero, 2023

Biografía


James J. Tarrant, whose interest from an early age in the global ecology movement led him to become a leading expert on environmental policy in Indonesia and elsewhere in the developing world, died on Jan. 30 after a long illness. He was 72.

In his first overseas posting in the early 1980s, Jim set up environmental education centers at a number of Indonesian universities, aimed at preserving and sustaining the country’s watersheds and rainforests, one of the world’s largest. He reported to Indonesia’s late pioneering environment minister, Emil Salim.

He then did extensive field studies on the traditional methods West Java farmers used to manage upland watersheds which became the basis of his Ph.D at the University of Sussex in England.

Jim then embarked on a series of assignments from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) on environmental and energy projects in Egypt, Cypress, Eastern Europe, Russia and Southeast Asia.

He returned to Indonesia in 1998 during a tumultuous period when the strongman ruler Suharto was toppled from power to continue his work on Indonesia’s rainforest management under another USAID program. This was a foundational initiative that built a robust cadre of Indonesian experts and model field programs that continues to inspire efforts to this day. Over 30 million Indonesians depend on Indonesia’s expansive tropical forests for their livelihoods. The program, partnered with the Indonesian government, and worked with civil society groups, and private businesses to help reduce threats to forest conservation, promote biodiversity protection, and cut greenhouse gas emissions from unsustainable land use, particularly in Indonesian Borneo provinces that are home to carbon-rich peatlands and biologically diverse tropical forests that provide habitat for orangutans, rhinos, elephants, and tigers.

As a boy, Jim received a gift of a spinning globe, which fascinated him. Inspired by President John F. Kennedy’s appeal to idealistic youth, Jim decided he would join the Peace Corps, which he did in 1972 after graduating from Allegheny College.

He was sent to Ethiopia, where he taught English in a mountainous village school and helped set up water infrastructure. He sent home dozens of long, handwritten letters on tissue-thin airmail paper that read like National Geographic articles. His letters at that time and over the years were often accompanied by humorous drawings.

Jim is survived by his widow Cynthia Mackie; their two children Kevin and Melati Tarrant; his mother, Kathleen Tarrant; two brothers, Bill and David; two sisters, Peg and Mary Sue; five nieces, Tavleen and Jasleen Tarrant; Narkeez Carlton, Natalie Tarrant and Meredith Bendl; and four nephews, James Carlton, Jackson Tarrant, Steven DeGrace, and James Joseph O’Leary.

Leer más 

Familia

Acerca de

Nombre James Joseph Tarrant
Fecha de nacimiento 16 marzo, 1950
Fecha de defunción 30 enero, 2023
Ciudad de origen Pittsburgh, PA, US 
Otra ciudad Silver Spring, MD, US 
Familia

Familia

HermanosBill Tarrant, Dave Tarrant, Kathy Ann Tarrant, Mary Sue Tarrant, Peg Tarrant
PadresJames Joseph Tarrant Jr., Kathleen O'Brien
AbuelosAnn MCarthy, James Joseph Tarrant, Mary Moran, Thomas O'Brien
Ver árbol genealógico

Error

photo
Caracteres: 6000

Iniciar sesión en Keeper:

photo
Caracteres: 6000

Enviar como invitado:

Tributos



Marcar publicación

publicó un comentario .

Leer más 

Marcar publicación
D

David Hess published a tribute .

Jim was one of the most positive forces whom I have had the pleasure to know. I only knew and worked with him at ARD, but in that short time I gained tremendous respect for him as a professional and human being. Please accept my condolences and thanks for sharing him. David Hess

Leer más 

  

photo
Caracteres: 6000
photo
Caracteres: 6000
Marcar publicación
M

Mary Rabbitt published a tribute .

Here we are in Truro, Cape Cod in the early 2000s--Jim, Cynthia, Kevin, Melati, Ariane, Azdin, Adam, and Sami, David and me--these were happy days and memories. We shall all miss Jim's humor, his belly laughs, and his engagement with everything and everyone around him--he was always interested in everyone else's projects and lives--he was always interested in learning. We love and miss you, Jim

Leer más 

  

photo
Caracteres: 6000
photo
Caracteres: 6000
Marcar publicación
C

Chip Barber published a tribute .

Cinnamon and I will always cherish Jim's memory, drive and humor, a life well lived. Our deepest condolences to his family. I first met Jim when I moved to Indonesia to do dissertation research on forest politics (and had very little idea what to actually do), and Cinnamon (my new bride at the time) told me that I had to get Jim (who lived in Bandung) to give me advice, as he was already doing ground-breaking work on various environment and development things on Java and beyond. He was generous with advice and hospitality and was a real mentor and friend. I later got to know his brother Bill, who was posted in Jakarta at the time as journalist, and this photo dates from that time, around 1986, up in Puncak, sitting around a warung, as one did in those days. Bill on the left, my sister-in-law Carolyn in the middle and Jim of course, with that twinkle in his eye on the right. We mikss you brother.

Leer más 

  

photo
Caracteres: 6000
photo
Caracteres: 6000
Marcar publicación
J

John Kennedy published a tribute .

I knew Jim during my time at Central Catholic. I remember him as a good friend, and a clever man. I am sorry for his passing, but I see he lived a very full life. I too had cancer, so I sympathize with his family, for all that they suffer, and continue to struggle with. Let us remember Jim for all his good and able work.

Leer más 

  

photo
Caracteres: 6000
photo
Caracteres: 6000
Marcar publicación
K

Kevin M Nadzam published a tribute .

Please accept my condolences and prayers for Jim and his family. Not only did we graduate together from Central but we were students together at St. Maurice in Forest Hills. I will always remember Jim for his sense of fun and learning. May he rest in peace.

Leer más 

  

photo
Caracteres: 6000
photo
Caracteres: 6000
Marcar publicación
N

Nadine Horenstein published a tribute .

Jim andcworked together at the Overseas Development Council in the late 1970s. I remember as a wonderful, hard working young man with a great sense of humor. I am sorryvwe lost touch. My thoughts are with his family.

Leer más 

  

photo
Caracteres: 6000
photo
Caracteres: 6000
Marcar publicación
S

Stephen Mink published a tribute .

30 January 2023

Jim, Cynthia, Kevin, and Melati,

Another dawn breaks, and the first glimmer of light is the gift that Jim is to us.

Jim, we first met you in the days after Erica, Thea, and I arrived in Jakarta just after Christmas of the year that Suharto fell and the city burned. Nearly a quarter of a century ago! Navigating this anxious city, we were introduced to your Natural Resource/Forestry Gang of Jim, Tim, and Kim, and welcomed in a warm embrace of your Kemang clan with weekend gatherings of families, running kids, cold Bintangs, pool splashings. Your wry and bemused observation of this household chaos was part of the glue that mended the past week’s urban jangles. It took us a couple of months to find our feet and decamp from our initial Hilton Hotel landing pad to our own home, and your families’ guidance was a huge help in our learning to spread our wings and explore the neighborhood, then the city and country.

What enduring sinew the glancing shared experiences of the next few years built into our memory muscles! Stopping by the Kemang florist’s kiosk to get a bunch of melati to bring to your house only to have them overshadowed by the exuberance of your own Melati. Kevin showing Thea how to cannonball close to the distracted adults. Weekend hamburgers at the American Club. Evening migrations to some neighborhood restaurant to celebrate the kids after some JIS musical or theatrical offering.

Our paths somehow intersected in the DC area if too occasionally over the following years, our kids’s lives defying gravity through their teens to launch into their amazing adult lives, our own lives inching towards new balances of family and profession. How delightful were those rare gatherings of the Jakarta crowd in the kitchen of your Virginia farm house, kids all grown up, but your impishness ever-present in your playful encouragement of Cynthia’s excitement over the planting of fruit trees, the seasonal abundance of paw-paws, the inevitability of tomato salads in late August.

Jim, you also were classmates with my older brother at Allegheny College, though he was there more briefly than you. Those were the times of the toxic Vietnam War and domestic politics of the Nixon administration, campus days not too far removed in time or space from the Kent State shootings, roiled by the military service lottery, drug experimentation, and youthful rebellion. Somehow you used that platform to get to Indonesia and beyond, find Cynthia, raise two delightful kids into adults, build strong-willed professionals into teams, while carrying your smile and calm throughout.

Sampai jumpa lagi, Jim.

Leer más 

  

photo
Caracteres: 6000
photo
Caracteres: 6000
Marcar publicación
A

Art Mitchell published a tribute .

Jim!
A life well lived

“Sailing far off from Jingmen Ferry,
Soon you will be with people in the south,
Where the mountains end and the plains begin
And the river winds through wilderness....
The moon is lifted like a mirror,
Sea-clouds gleam like palaces,
And the water has brought you a touch of home
To draw your boat three hundred miles.” - Li Po ❤️

Leer más 

  

photo
Caracteres: 6000
photo
Caracteres: 6000
Marcar publicación
J

Jeff Campbell published a tribute .

Jim will be dearly missed. Not least for his infectious warmth and smile for his contribution to the Earth and Al us beings on it. Our hearts are with Cynthia and the whole family. We are richer for having known Jim even briefly!!

Leer más 

  

photo
Caracteres: 6000
photo
Caracteres: 6000
Marcar publicación
M

Midge Valdes published a tribute .

Leer más 

 1 


Marcar publicación
M

Midge Valdes publicó un comentario .

A man in his element, Jim loved exploring the great outdoors, and particularly liked visiting Maine.

Leer más 

photo
Caracteres: 6000
photo
Caracteres: 6000
Marcar publicación
M

Midge Valdes published a tribute .

Leer más 

 1 


Marcar publicación
M

Midge Valdes publicó un comentario .

Jim, Always the engaged Citizen; he never lacked a deep understanding, or opinion of or about the time he was living in.

Leer más 

photo
Caracteres: 6000
photo
Caracteres: 6000
Marcar publicación
M

Midge Valdes published a tribute .

Hear is Jim expressing his Lustful- Love of good Food. We always enjoyed eating together, and sharing recipes and techniques!

Leer más 

  

photo
Caracteres: 6000
photo
Caracteres: 6000

Keepers

Enviar un tributo