Kenny Eugene James, born to Wesley and Maxine James on Aug. 26, 1947, in Stillwater, Oklahoma, passed peacefully on April 24, 2025, after an 11year battle with Parkinson’s disease and Lewy body dementia. He was 77 years old.
Ken grew up in the small town of Mullen, Nebraska, located in the Sandhills, one of the primary ranching regions of the state. There, he was an avid participant in almost every activity a small town has to offer: playing basketball, football, baseball, and running track; performing in the chorus and school plays, and playing the trombone in band. Ken graduated from Mullen High School as Valedictorian in 1965.
After high school, Ken attended Doane University in Crete, Nebraska, where he was a member of the Delta Kappa Pi fraternity and served as president his senior year. In the summer of 1967, he joined the Varsity Vagabonds, a singing group that toured and performed on military bases in the far east under the sponsorship of the U.S.O. Ken earned a bachelor’s degree, graduating magna cum laude, and attended graduate school at the University of Iowa, where he earned a master’s degree in actuarial science in 1971.
After college, Ken was hired by the Connecticut General Life Insurance Company and was inducted into the Society of Actuaries in 1973. He joined a singing group for Connecticut General employees, the CG Choraliers, and met Sheila Bell Campbell, the woman who would become his wife. They married in West Hartford, Connecticut, in September 1976.
Later that year, Ken joined Hewitt Associates, and the couple moved to Lake Forest, Illinois, where they raised their two daughters, Amanda and Lacey. Ken spent the next 31 years at Hewitt, becoming a partner in the firm just four years after joining. He managed client accounts and served a wide variety of businesses and corporations, large and small. Ken was known for building strong and lasting client relationships, and his co-workers described him as “dedicated,” “patient,” “a true leader and mentor,” and a “Hewitt icon and legend.” He later became a member of Hewitt’s management committee, which directed and guided firm operations. Ken retired from Hewitt in 2007.
While at Hewitt, Ken returned to his alma mater to serve as a member of the Doane University board of directors from 1989 to 2017 and was chairman from 2008 to 2015.
Sheila passed in 1999 after living with breast cancer for 11 years. Years later, Ken reconnected with Alice Ericksen Faraco, a childhood friend from Nebraska who had lost her husband as well. In June 2007, the couple married in Mullen, Nebraska, and together they built a house at The Reserve at Lake Keowee in Sunset, South Carolina, where Alice continues to reside.
Ken was highly respected by his many clients, associates and friends. He was known for his kindness, keen intelligence, sharp wit, sense of humor, warm hugs, and being a true gentleman. He was an avid tennis player, an outdoor enthusiast, a lover of music, travel, card games, and history books, and a diehard fan of University of Nebraska football. Most of all, he was a devoted father and loving husband who cherished spending time with his family.
Ken is survived by his wife, Alice, his two daughters, Amanda James (Mike) of Chicago, Ill., and Lacey James of Falls Church, Va., his stepchildren, Jon Faraco (Cyndi) of Virginia Beach, Va., and Juliana Ackerman (Andrew) of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and his grandchildren, Avery, Brynn, Eli, Ali, Luke, Logan and Elise.
A memorial service will be held at Founders Hall at The Reserve at Lake Keowee in Sunset, South Carolina, on Saturday, May 17 at 10 a.m. Donations in Ken’s memory may be made to the Parkinson’s Foundation at parkinson.org.
A graveside service will be held in Mullen, Nebraska, at a later date.