[rspurlin]

It is with great sadness that I relate the recent death of Jim Westmoreland, an outstanding longtime volunteer of FIRST. Jim was involved in every level of FIRST, but mostly known for his mentoring of teams in Texas and more recently, as Head Ref of the Lonestar and Smoky Mountain regionals. He also refereed the Peachtree regional, Championships and off season events. In fact, if you can volunteer to do it for FIRST, Jim has probably done it. Aviation, robotics and family were Jim's primary passions.

Jim was an engineer for Lockheed Martin and well known within the company as an expert in their plane's electrical systems. He was also a veteran of the Marine Corps.

Jim was killed in an automobile accident Wednesday, November 23rd, 2011. He is survived by his wife Terresa, two grown sons, one grandchild, his parents, a brother and a sister.

All of us in Jim's local FIRST family are deeply saddened by his sudden passing, but Jim's robotics family extended far beyond Georgia. Please add your own remembrances of Jim's unique contributions in this thread.