Rear Admiral James Benjamin Whittaker

Loving husband, father, grandfather, and friend

RADM James B Whittaker, know to all as “Jim“ or “Admiral Jim”, of Minneapolis, Minnesota passed away at home on July 2nd, 2023, surrounded by family. He was 87 years young.

He was born to parents Harry and Ruth (Hargis) Whittaker on Friday, September 13th, 1935 in Highland Kansas, and had an elder brother Harry Kenneth (“HK”). Jim graduated from Highland High School (and participated/lettered in many varsity sports – otherwise there would have been no team) and went on to the University of Kansas (KU) on a Navy ROTC scholarship and graduated with a degree in Business Administration. While Jim did not make first seat on the KU basketball team, as Wilt Chamberlain was his competition, he enjoyed the camaraderie of his brothers at the Sigma Nu fraternity and his fellow cooks at the Tri-Delta sorority house. The Navy selected him for a Masters in Business Administration from the University of Michigan, graduating in 1966 with distinction and selected him for a Ph.D. in Business Administration (Dissertation on Strategic Planning in Rapidly Changing Environment) from University of Michigan, graduating in 1975.

Jim received his commission with the United States Navy in 1957, thinking he would “pay back” his ROTC scholarship and move into the private sector. He soon learned that there was a lot of opportunity to work on meaty problems and help drive progress through a mammoth bureaucracy. That promise of sustained intellectual challenge, coupled with the additional educational opportunities granted by the Navy, a 31-year career just flew by, and Jim led an exemplary career as an officer and leader in logistics and supply and earned the rank of two-star Rear Admiral by 1987. He served on the destroyer USS Compton and at numerous Naval bases in the United States, including the US Naval Station Olathe, KS, and the Navy Electronics Supply Station in Great Lakes, IL, the Supply Parts Control Center and Fleet Material Supply Office in Mechanicsburg, PA, and the Naval Supply Systems Command in Arlington, VA. He also served on the cruiser USS St. Paul near Vietnam and at bases overseas, including US Naval Station Keflavik, Iceland, and at the Commander Service Squadron SIX and the Commander Naval Surface Group Mediterranean bases in Naples, Italy.

Jim’s tour of duty in Naples was perhaps the most significant personal experience he had. He was renowned for always having his little green Italian/English dictionary with him, and always making an extra effort to culturally connect and communicate with his fellow Neapolitans. This was also the start of what would become a thirteen-year annual tradition of flying Space-Available flights back to Europe to ski with family and military friends in the Italian Dolomites, and the start of multi-generational love of skiing and all things Italian.

During his tenure Jim was passionate about simplifying bureaucracies and was responsible for understanding and driving out inefficiencies in the Navy’s complex inventory processes. One of his most significant professional accomplishments in the Navy was the re-engineering of three major business processes that procured, stored, and issued inventory valued at over $50 billion. He was awarded and served as program manager for three major ADP Systems Integration projects valued at over $4 billion. He developed the Navy’s first Strategic Planning System for a 53,000-member organization with an operating budget $1.2 billion, managed and updated the Navy’s inventory and supply system at over 100 sites worldwide (reducing inventory inaccuracy from 11% to 2.2%), and served as principal logistics system representative testifying to the US Congress. In the service of his country as a US Navy Officer, RADM Whittaker was awarded the following medals: the Legion of Merit, the Meritorious Service Medal, the Navy Commendation Medal (Gold Star in lieu of second award), the Navy Achievement Medal, the National Defense Service Medal, Vietnam Service Medal with one Bronze Star, and the Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal. Jim was renowned for his strategic business mind and had a knack for taking in tremendous details (from the amazing men and women supporting him) and pulling up to the most salient facts/truths.

Upon his military retirement, and ahead of his time, Jim embarked on what we would now call a “portfolio” career – which he referred to as pursuing his “sunflower”. Every job or interest represented a petal on Jim’s sunflower, and there were many -- from continued service to his beloved country, higher education, the private sector, entrepreneurship, and philanthropy.

For the next 35 years, Jim led The Whittaker Group, a firm focused on investing, consulting, and providing strategic planning for government and commercial organizations in the technology, finance, and logistics industries. He was also the COO and Executive VP of an international software company and served on the Acquisition Policy Advisory Committee on Strategic Computing and Telecommunications at the JFK School of Government at Harvard University; the External Advisory Committee of the Business Operations Division of Los Alamos National Laboratory; and was a member of the Executive Council on Information Technology to the US General Accounting Office. He has written several books about strategic planning and government accountability. For over ten years, he was an adjunct professor in business administration at the University of Michigan, Georgetown, and Penn State Universities to name a few. Jim served six years as Vice Chairman and Director of Navy Federal Credit Union, and twenty-seven years as trustee of the billion-dollar defined benefit Navy Exchange Pension Fund, which was 40% overfunded for much of his tenure.

His interests were both large and small, starting various entrepreneurial ventures along the way -- anywhere from the small family ventures of importing fine Italian wine, hand crafted Italian ceramics, and handmade Lithuanian cards, to launching virtual reality companies leveraging programming talent in Lithuania, Poland, and Romania, to his final “petal” of launching Keep Her Safe, a 501(3)c, whose mission was to reduce sexual assaults in the United States by improving technology and systems of parking garages.

Jim married the love of his life, Margaret (“Maggie”) Lamson of Coffeyville, KS on Dec 23, 1961, who he met on a blind date while stationed at the Olathe, KS Naval Air Station. They began their 61 years of marriage together in Iceland and continued to travel the world together. Jim is survived by his loving wife Maggie, son, James K Whittaker (Amy) of Lawrence, KS, daughter Jennifer L Whittaker Jolly (Matt) of Minneapolis, MN; and four grandchildren, Isabella Whittaker and Maximillian James Whittaker (entering freshman at KU) of Lawrence, KS, and James Benjamin Whittaker-Jolly and Olivia Whittaker-Jolly of Minneapolis, MN, and nephews and nieces and numerous cousins across the country.

“Big Jim” as he was known to his Kansas grandkids and “Grandaddy” to his Minnesota grandkids, loved sailing, tennis, fishing, hunting, skiing, and traveling to Italy. He was a loving husband, father, grandfather and enjoyed spending time with his family including annual July 4th trips to the beach (Charleston, SC) for nearly 18 years and a 50th Wedding Anniversary to the Dolomites in Italy in 2011.

Jim and Maggie moved to Minneapolis in July 2021 to be closer to family and enjoyed weekly and often daily visits from Jen, and Benjamin (where they would discuss investing or Benjamin’s lawn care business) and Olivia (where they would often paint together or play chess). His last notable trip was in May visiting Kansas to see grandson Max graduate from High School and attain his Eagle Scout rank in the Boy Scouts of America, and a last visit to his hometown of Highland, KS where he had a chance to break bread once more with cousins, visit the family farm and the house he grew up in. He always remained grateful for the warm midwestern upbringing that his family blessed him with.

Above all, Jim loved life, and was very engaged with family and friends around the world. He wanted to hear about everything that was going on and wanted to celebrate their wins or share their burdens. He loved connecting with people, teaching them, sharing with them. He would talk to anyone anywhere (especially in Italian or Spanish, or a mixture of both, regardless of whether he was in Europe or South America or Asia!). He developed an immense web of friendships across the world, and most recently in Minneapolis, where Jen and Matt’s friends and neighbors, and Beach Club residents opened their hearts and homes to Jim and Maggie.

The family is deeply grateful for the care, concern, and guidance provided by Jim’s Minneapolis “village” including his home care aids and Park Nicollet Hospice nurses who assisted in the final days.

Please visit the Events page for further details about the Arlington, VA interment and celebration scheduled on Dec 20, 2024.

memorial service

Final Tributes to Admiral Jim

December 20, 2024

Fort Myer Old Post Chapel 204 Arlington Ave, Fort Myer, VA 22211, USA

There will be a memorial service at 11am at the Old Post Chapel at Fort Myers Base, followed by a graveside service with military honors in Arlington National Cemetery. Friends and family members are then invited back to the Officers' Club at Fort Meyer for a reception.

Please note that any person without a DoD or federally affiliated ID card wishing to attend are required to register for access. To prevent delays, these visitors are encouraged to pre-register (2-3 days in advance) for access to Fort Meyer either at the Visitor Control Center in Building 415, at Hatfield Gate Ft Meyer or can apply online at:

https://pass.aie.army.mil/jbmhh

Please reach out to daughter Jennifer with any question or for further details at email: jollywhittaker@hotmail.com or on mobile 612-801-2280.