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Jim received a bachelor’s degree in economics at Oberlin in 1969, then went on to Yale University, where he earned a doctoral degree in economics in 1976. He joined the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in 1981, becoming the first social scientist appointed to the resident scientific staff. He shifted Woods Hole’s policy research from anthropology and political science toward economics and law.
“Broadus was far and away this community’s most articulate spokesman for the ‘economic’ use of ocean resources. Often the skeptic, …one step ahead of the mainstream in the marine policy field, perceiving deep seabed mining as an illusion… Broadus was, at heart, an ‘internationalist’ in the best sense of the term.” —Porter Hoagland, WHOI, and Edward Miles, University of Washington, 1994
In September of 1994, Jim was attending a conference in Hawaii when he drowned while snorkeling off the coast of Maui. He was survived by his wife, Victoria, and three children, Matthew Lee, Victoria Rose and Joseph Gordon, all of Falmouth, MA.
Tom Witheridge
What a loss. Jim was one of my very favorite classmates (I'm sure many of you are thinking the same thing) all the way through, and he went on to epitomize the best of Oberlin in his life's work. I will never forget how he tried (unsuccessfully) to teach this dumb Yankee how to pronounce "Louisville" like the locals. There was something secret, probably patented, that he did with his mouth, cheeks, and upper throat to turn an obvious three-syllable word into -- not even a two-syllable word -- but, I swear to God, a ONE-syllable word. Impossible you say, but not when Jim was talking about his beloved hometown. Wish he were here right now to demonstrate!
Alice Slutsker (Lawrence)
Yes Jim was a wonderful warm, kind man whom I had the great pleasure to know. We were close for awhile, senior year, and he graciously helped me drive from Cleveland to my graduate program in Cambridge. His measured way of speaking, his understated humour, his incisive mind, his way of paying close attention—what a privilege to have been his friend and what a loss to this world.