James “Jim” M. Wayne, 85, of Aptos, California passed away on November 26, 2025.

Jim was born on December 28, 1939 in San Francisco, California to James W. Wayne and Genevieve Wayne. Jim graduated from Los Gatos High School in 1958 and then joined the National Guard for a short stint before attending San Jose State University where he obtained a BA in Business followed by a Masters in Art in 1966.

Jim married in 1964 and started a family. Two beautiful daughters blessed his life. Vacations were often spent in the out of doors at Burney Falls and Lake Almanor in Northern California.

Jim was one of those lucky few who was able to work at what he loved to do and that was teaching Ceramics, Sculpture and Glass Blowing at San Jose City College. Jim also had the opportunity to teach at the University of Southern California in 1969, Pasadena City College in 1970 and University of Hawaii, Honolulu in 1979. As with any successful artist, Jim had many exhibits that displayed his work, including two in Tokyo and Osaka, Japan. In addition, Jim has glass works that are part of the collections at the Mills College Art Museum, the Oakland Art Museum, the Tacoma Art Museum and the Smithsonian American History Museum.

Jim was an avid fly fisherman and often took vacations just to fish. He fished in several locations around the world, including the Western United States, the Florida Keyes, British Columbia, the Bahamas and Bali.

Jim later met Chizuko in 1988 and they married. Jim continued teaching Ceramics and Sculpture at San Jose City College until he retired in 2003. But, you couldn’t keep him away from his potters wheel for long, as both Jim and Chizuko continued to participate in the annual Ceramics Sale held at San Jose City College for a number of years. With the additional time that retirement brings, Jim bought a boat and spent many a day on the Monterey Bay fishing and it was a wonderful day when he was able to bring home a salmon for dinner. Jim and Chizuko had many chances to travel and enjoyed spending time on Vancouver Island, British Columbia fishing from the shoreline.

Surviving Jim are his wife Chizuko; two daughters Tierney (Collin) Logan; Courtney (Travis) Queen, and sister Linda Wayne. Jim is also survived by three grandchildren, nieces, nephews, and many dear friends.

The family requests that in lieu of flowers, donations in Jim’s name may be made to California Trout http://caltrout.org/ or to your favorite charity.