(July 29, 1946 —July 27, 2018)
James “Jim” William Victor (Iowa Xi, 1965) of Davenport died in a tragic motor sports accident in July 2018. His example of planned giving is a model to inspire all Phi Kaps.
Jim Victor (Iowa State University, ‘68) was known as a top-notch investment advisor in the Quad Cities of Davenport and Bettendorf, Iowa, and Moline and Rock Island, Illinois, but he was undeniably more. A motorsports racer, a newspaper carrier, an altar boy, a fraternity brother, a newspaper columnist, a television personality, a philanthropist... the list can continue.
The son of Al and Marjorie (Pirk) Victor, Jim was born in Wisconsin but made his name in Iowa. In describing Jim, his Iowa Xi fraternity brother and fellow Morgan Stanley investment advisor Jim Willer recalled Victor as a “true, true friend.”
A MARION, IOWA, BOYHOOD
James William Victor was one of five children with sisters Barbara and Mary Anne and brothers Tom and Mick. His father Al took a job with Collins Radio in Cedar Rapids in 1956. The family lived in the nearby community of Marion where Jim attended St. Joseph School and served as an altar boy. He played piano and performed in the 1957 and 1958 recitals at St. Joseph. In a 1960 Cedar Rapids Gazette profile of Jim as one of their newspaper carriers, 14-year old Jim stated that he wished to become an architect, though he did not know which college he might attend. He attended the local Catholic high school Cedar Rapids Regis and used his newspaper profits to pay tuition, purchase his clothes and keep a bit of spending money. As a teenager, he “took care of his own financial affairs.”
JAMES IN AMES
Jim came to Iowa State University in the fall of 1964. He pledged Phi Kappa Theta and was initiated in the spring of 1965. He served as house social chairman and worked hard to get the men of Phi Kappa Theta to learn fraternity songs and serenade sororities. He made sure the men knew the songs of Phi Kappa Theta including “The Sweetheart of Phi Kappa.” He initiated social gatherings, including an Easter Break party at his family home in Marion for college friends. He loved interacting with others.
Victor, shown in this 1966 photo, joined Phi Kappa Theta in the fall of 1964. He said that his time at Iowa State University changed his life. (Courtesy of Iowa State University Bomb).
As a senior at Iowa State, he served as president of the Newman Club, the Catholic student organization, and was on the Interfraternity Council Board. He was a member of the Science & Humanities College’s Science Council and the Homecoming Central Committee. He was invited to join Alpha Kappa Psi, the national business honorary.
A MULTIMEDIA INVESTMENT ADVISOR
One of Jim’s first jobs out of college was with Iowa-Illinois Gas and Electric Company in the Quad Cities. In the early 1970s he started working as an investment advisor. He became prominent in the community and trusted in his knowledge. Victor wrote a regular column for the Quad City Times and later appeared on KWQC. He created a stock index of Quad Cities’ businesses that appeared in the paper. He was on the station’s first morning show and was a genial personality with a welcoming laugh.
Jim wrote a regular column on finances for the Quad City Times. Readers knew he was writing with an informed and beneficent perspective. (Courtesy of the Quad City Times)
QUAD CITIES & BEYOND
Jim continued to enjoy socializing. He maintained friendships and developed new ones. He met people in the Quad Cities and joined a local ski club. He traveled to Europe with the club and took annual trips to Colorado. A favorite memory of Iowa Xi brother Jim Willer’s was a 1972 trip to Council Bluffs for a wedding of a Phi Kap and an Alpha Chi Omega. The group then traveled north to visit college friend Diane Pattee’s family in the northwest Iowa town of Pocahontas. Willer recalled it was like the film, The Big Chill, though it followed a wedding, not a funeral. The group sang popular songs including “Joy to the World” by Three Dog Night and reveled in each other’s company. It was hard for the group to separate. Some, including Pattee, Willer and Victor, would remain lifelong friends.
A CREATURE OF HABITS
Jim got his rest, but when he was awake, he was focused. He read about new stocks or researched those that might be in trouble. He took his daily run and drank plenty of water. He attended one Iowa State Cyclone football game a year. He valued relationships. He never owned a smartphone, but he would gladly talk to friends and clients on a cellphone. His business partner Sheila Volrath told the Quad City Times, “He utilized his time to help people, whether it was with our business, his clients, other folks in the office, his family, his friends, but most importantly his volunteer work.” His obituary asserted, “Being together, loving life, never losing your childhood enthusiasm, staying committed to your principles and continually searching for the magic in even the smallest moments. This is how Jim lived.”
MOTORSPORTS
Jim participated in the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) with the “Arms Up Racing” team. He had a B 17 Chevron Formula 3 racing car and often finished on the podium. He participated in a 24 Hours of Daytona racing team in 2004 as part of a five-man team that finished 13th in the Super Grand Sport class in a Corvette. His racing friends were stunned when he was killed in a crash during practice at Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin on July 27, 2018. A fellow racer commented on Facebook, “Jim was one of the nicest men I’ve ever met in racing. He was as fierce as any competitor once the visor shut. He will be missed.”
Among his philanthropic interests was Junior Achievement, the organization’s annual fund-raising golf tournament in the Quad Cities was named in his honor. (Courtesy of the Victor Family)
CHAPTER ETERNAL
“Give, expecting nothing thereof.”
Jim Victor lived the Phi Kappa Theta motto. He supported Junior Achievement in the Quad Cities where the annual fund-raising golf tournament is named in his honor. He created a scholarship at Iowa State. In Jim’s will, he bequeathed to Iowa Xi one of the largest posthumous gifts to a Phi Kappa Theta chapter ever.
When describing their brother, his siblings named the following traits: curiosity, engagement, children, learning, and family. Jim explained his time at Iowa State saying, “My experience at Iowa State truly changed my world – it enlightened me, it inspired me, and it empowered me.”
Jim was a model Phi Kap in life and in death. He embodied the leadership, fraternal, intellectual, social and spiritual values of Phi Kappa Theta. The men of Iowa Xi are proud to have known Jim as a fraternity brother and friend. His legacy will continue to help develop and define Phi Kaps at Iowa State for generations to come.
A resolution was passed by the Phi Kappa Theta Foundation in January to honor Brother James Victor.