We regret to announce the death of Jim Giddings on September 26, 2022. Jim was the leader of KSA's Physical Distribution (PD) Group for many years and fostered the careers of many PD consultants who joined KSA in the mid- and late 1960s. One of those consultants, Tony DeMaria, took the reigns of the PD Group when Jim elected to move aside.
On a personal note, Jim was delightful to work around and a fountainhead of knowledge on the PD and KSA organization, client acquisition and retention, and engagement management. He was always happy -- his big smile shown in the picture to the right is the way I remember him.
Jim will be missed by those of us fortunate to have worked with him. Our thoughts are with Kay, Page, Jimmy, Dan and the family.
Following are a few highlights from Jim's obituary published by Legacy Remembers on Oct. 6, 2022. Click here to read the entire obituary.
by Jim Giddings
Jim was an inventor, harmonica and chess player, fly fisherman, entrepreneur, paratrooper, sailor, golfer, yacht club commodore and cartoonist. He was unassuming and endlessly curious. Above all, he was a thoughtful and considerate husband, father, brother, uncle, friend and stranger. Jim appreciated beauty in all its forms, loved his family and was respectful to everyone.
He attended Georgia Military College where he was named Cadet Colonel, Battalion Commander and graduated with distinction. He then attended Georgia Institute of Technology where he was in the Reserve Officers' Training Corp, a member of the Alpha Tau Omega-Beta fraternity [with KSA Alumni Freddie Wood and Cecil Phillips], a staff cartoonist at the Yellow Jacket humor magazine and earned a BSE degree in engineering.
After graduation, he served as a 1st lieutenant in the 507th Parachute Airborne Infantry Regiment out of Fort Benning Georgia. A career as a management consultant led him to Chicago where he met and married the love of his life, Kathryn Boyle Giddings. In 1962, they moved to Atlanta, Georgia where they raised their three children, Page, Jimmy and Dan. Jim published cartoons regularly in The Saturday Review. After stints at the Tennessee Valley Authority and Yale & Towne, Jim settled in for the rest of his consulting career at Kurt Salmon Associates. There, he played an integral role in advising Hart Schaffner & Marx, L.L. Bean, Orvis, Harrods, Barneys, Paul Stuart, Saks Fifth Avenue, Home Depot, and other organizations during their periods of growth and reorganization.