James Anthony Sherman

James Anthony Sherman was born September 1, 1938, in Corvallis, Oregon to Sylvester Frank Sherman, a Colonel in the Army, and Sophia Rosalia Zak Sherman, a homemaker.  While his father was away serving in World War II, Jim grew up in the small town of Pe Ell, Washington with his mother, paternal grandparents, and two younger sisters, Sandra and Susan, both of whom he adored. Some of Jim’s fondest memories were of his time in Pe Ell, helping his grandfather feed the cows and chickens on their small farm (beginning his lifelong love of animals) and playing in the woods and creek behind the house. When his father returned from the war, the family moved to Tacoma, Washington, where they lived until Jim was in middle school. Jim completed high school on Long Island, where he claims he quickly joined the football team to avoid being beaten up. But Jim always thought of Washington as home and loved returning there every summer to pick blackberries and eat his mother’s homemade pierogis.

After high school, Jim moved to southern California to attend Pomona College, where he was the cornerback and center on the football team, third baseman and relief pitcher on the baseball team, and served in the ROTC.  Jim loved his football team and the friends he made through it. And it was during this time that he adopted his beloved football coach’s mantra for all future competitive activities: “I’ve never once lost a game; it’s just that once in a while, the time ran out before I could win.” Jim graduated from Pomona College in 1960 with a degree in Psychology.  Two years later, he married Mary Lou Wright, whom he had dated during college.

In 1962, Jim began graduate school at the University of Washington in clinical psychology. He was so unfulfilled in his first year, however, he decided to quit and find a new career path. During the final week of second semester, he attended a talk by Dr. Donald Baer, a young behavioral professor. This talk changed Jim’s life, and the story of that rainy day and its influence on his career would become one of his favorites to tell. He was so fascinated by Don’s work, he decided to stay in graduate school, changing his course of study to behaviorism and begging Don to be his advisor. Don acquiesced and introduced Jim to fellow students and professors who would become some of the most important influences of his career, including Sidney Bijou, Mont Wolf, Ivar Lovaas, and Todd Risley. For his dissertation, Jim taught language to nonverbal individuals with schizophrenia at Western State Hospital. One man that Jim taught to speak was in his 60s. He had been nonverbal since his admission to the institution 45 years earlier.

During graduate school, Jim also started his work with children with autism, using the same principles he had used to teach language to schizophrenic adults.  At the encouragement of Sidney Bijou, Jim joined Mont and Todd in working with a three-and-a-half-year-old child with autism named Dicky who had no language, was not toilet trained, had severe self-destructive tantrums, and had been recommended for permanent institutionalization.  While Mont and Todd worked with Dicky on behavioral issues, Jim helped worked with Dicky to learn to speak. Mont and Todd later published a paper about their work with Dicky; it was the first published academic article about behavioral interventions for children with autism. Dicky went on to graduate from high school and live and work independently.

Upon completing his Ph.D. in 1964, Jim enlisted in the Army to fulfill his undergraduate ROTC requirement. He entered as a First Lieutenant Officer and was stationed at Walter Reed in D.C., where he was asked to develop a program to teach American soldiers Vietnamese and to teach pigeons to guide missiles. While serving at Walter Reed, he and Mary Lou welcomed their first child, a daughter, Jill Anne Sherman. They would welcome a son, Cristopher James Sherman, two years later. In 1966, he left his military service as a Captain to pursue a career in academia.

Upon completing his Army commitment, Jim applied for academic jobs. He gave talks at UCLA, Columbia, and the University of Kansas, but ultimately decided on KU, in the department of Human Development and Family Life, now Applied Behavioral Science. According to him, when his plane landed for his first visit in the flat farmlands of the Midwest, he wondered why anyone would ever move away from the beauty of the West Coast. But he claims the people of Kansas immediately charmed him, and Lawrence later captivated him for the rest of his life. It was for this reason he decided to make his lifelong career at KU. And during this time, he continued his close relationships with Don, Mont, and Todd, all of whom were colleagues and good friends.

While at KU, Jim met and married the love his life, Jan Bowen Sheldon, also a professor in the department. Although Jan’s first memory of Jim is him throwing a phone across his office in anger (apparently as a young man, he was quite short-tempered), they eventually fell in love and were married for over 40 years. In their early days, they loved to ride motorcycles, visit antique stores, and work on refinishing their old Victorian house on Tennessee Street. They worked together for the entirety of their careers, mentoring hundreds of undergraduate and graduate students, debating appropriate behavioral interventions, and eating lunch with one another almost every day. Together, they had two daughters, Jennifer Ann Louise Sheldon-Sherman and Rebecca Victoria Sheldon-Sherman. Their home was never without lively conversation, many tears (Jim was notorious for crying when he was both happy and sad), and pets, who inevitably were Jim’s favorite family members.

Jim served as a professor at KU for 53 years, serving as Chair of the Department for 25 of those years. His career was marked by many distinctions and notable contributions to the field of applied behavioral analysis, particularly in the area of positive reinforcement. He is considered one of “the Gods” of ABA, served on the Board of Editors for the first edition of the Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, authored or co-authored over 75 peer-reviewed articles and 15 book chapters,  and brought in over a million dollars of grant funds to the University. He was honored with the Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching, the Wally and Marie Steeples Faculty Award for Service to the People of Kansas, the Kemper Teaching Award, and was in the first group selected as KU’s Men of Merit.

Yet his greatest professional accomplishments were not awards and articles. Rather, his greatest contribution was helping children with autism and adults with developmental disabilities. In 1977, a group of parents approached him and Jan about moving their children with developmental disabilities out of institutions so they could live in the community.  To this end, Jim helped found Community Living Opportunities, now GoodLife Innovations, a non-profit dedicated to ensuring that individuals with disabilities live independent, purposeful lives.

Jim was the heart and soul of CLO for more than 40 years, serving as the President and Chair of the Board for almost 20 years. He had countless stories about the lives impacted by CLO (each one undoubtedly ending with him in tears), and yet no story involved him. Rather, each story involved the individuals served and their caregivers. No matter how many homes he visited, he never ceased to be amazed by the love and bonds that developed between the people in them. One of his favorite stories involved CLO’s transition from individuals living in group homes (the family teaching model) to one individual living with one family (the extended teaching family model). During this transition, a couple who had been caregivers to three women in a group home said they wanted to become an extended teaching family. Jim asked them which individual they wanted to move with them into their home. They replied that they wanted all three women to live with them. Jim explained that the program was designed for only one individual with a disability to live in a home with one family. They reiterated that they wanted all three women to live with them. He again explained the design. They replied, “You have always taught us that the people we serve are our family, and now you want us to split up our family. We will not do that.” And Jim replied, “You are exactly right. I am wrong.” The family moved all three women into their home.

Jim also founded KEAP, an early-intervention preschool program for children with autism at the University of Kansas. One of his favorite parts of each day was visiting the children in the KEAP classroom. And the children loved Jim as much as he did them, with more than one asking to have a visit with Jim as their reinforcement if they achieved their goals.

Throughout all his work, Jim combined his intelligence and hard work with kindness, compassion, and a deep desire to help others. And through his many undergraduate and graduate students who continue and build upon the amazing work he began, his legacy of service to others continues.

Personally, Jim loved to work in his yard, cook (but only with the cheapest ingredients as he was more frugal than anyone), spend time on his farm, and play soccer. Many of his closest friends were made through the soccer team he captained for years, called “The Ancients.” The Ancients won the Sunflower State Games many years in a row, and it gave Jim great delight that year after year they beat teams with men decades younger than them. Those who knew Jim well, or even met him in passing, knew he loved to talk, and people loved to listen to him. To this day, former students recount stories he told and advice he dispensed. He never met a stranger, and he loved campus walks where he could stop and chat with neighbors and friends. Still, nothing brought him greater joy than his four children, eight grandchildren, and his many dogs.  He loved his family above all else, and he never passed on an opportunity to tell them how much he loved them.

Jim died peacefully on Wednesday, July 24, 2024, from complications with Alzheimer’s, a disease that consumed the last ten years of his life. Although Alzheimer’s took so much from him, it never dimmed his kind heart and love for others. He was gracious, loving, and compassionate until the very end, taking it upon himself to help “care” for the others in his memory care facility. He was preceded in death by his parents and his sister, Sandra King. He is survived by his wife, Jan Sheldon; his sister, Susan Westphal; his four children and their spouses, Jill Sherman (Doug Moline), Cris Sherman (Tanya Sherman), Jenna Sheldon-Sherman (Steve Munch), and Becca Ayre (Nick Ayre); and his eight grandchildren, Mia, Mason, Ming, Henry, Jack, Bowen, Ila, and Sophia Louise. He also leaves behind countless friends and colleagues who will continue to work toward his lifelong goal of ensuring quality, meaningful lives for all people.

The family wishes to thank the wonderful, loving, and dedicated staff of Neuvant House for providing such exceptional care to “Professor Jim” in his final years.  We also appreciate the care provided by the staff of QualiCare Pharmacy and Interim Hospice during the last months of his life. Finally, we are forever indebted to the love and support of Jamie Price and Ivo Ivanov, his close friends for many years.  In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in Jim’s memory to the KU Endowment Association or the Lawrence Humane Society. A celebration of life will be held at a later date.