James Vernon Kinetz

James Vernon Kinetz, 85 years old, passed away surrounded by loved ones at Adventist Health hospital on July 21, 2024, in Bakersfield, California. He was born on August 4, 1938, in Duluth, Minnesota to Vernon Kinetz and Ella Amanda Paulson.

Jim grew up in Duluth and graduated from Denfeld High School in 1956. He went on to the University of Minnesota, Duluth and graduated from the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis with a degree in electrical engineering. He remembered his childhood home as “full of love” and was the first in his family to obtain a university degree.

Jim qualified as a solo pilot and served in the Air National Guard at Keesler Air Force Base in Biloxi, Mississippi in 1959, where he worked on air communications. In the early 1960s, he worked for General Dynamics at Vandenberg Air Force Base in Santa Barbara, California. In his career as an engineer, he contributed to NASA’s early space shuttle program and joined IBM just as mainframe computers were coming into commercial use.

While working for IBM in Los Angeles, Jim shifted over to sales. In 1980, he left IBM and joined Coldwell Banker, embarking on a new career as a commercial and industrial real estate broker. He gained a reputation for hunting and closing some of the biggest deals in the Southern California market, holing up in his overstuffed office to hammer out dazzling – and often funny – listing pitches. He’d do whatever it took to close a deal, even if it meant taking an off-the-books trip to Mexico to cinch a signature. He retired from the industry as a Principal and Sr. Vice President at Lee & Associates.

Jim developed a passion for photography in high school, which he carried with him through his life. Boyhood summers at his grandmother, Thea Paulson’s, farm in Culver, MN left him with an aversion to camping but an uncanny ability to mimic the sound of a cow mooing. He enjoyed sailing his red 30-foot sailboat, Audacious, out of Marina del Rey. An avid newshound, Jim relished political debate. He was an early adopter of many different technologies, from Beta video cassettes to the mysterious brick-like “car phone” he acquired in the early 1980s and the Tesla he could not stop talking about. Jim taught more than one person how to build a computer. He loved woodworking, dogs, BBQ, big bowls of cherries and very buttery popcorn.

Preceded in death by his parents and his brother, Roger Allen Kinetz, Jim is survived by his wife, Maria Lourdes Kinetz of Bakersfield, CA; daughter Elizabeth (John) Smolin of Bedford Hills, NY; daughter Erika (Bernard) Kinetz Prevete and their children, Thea Prevete and Anna Prevete, of Rome, Italy; daughter Christin (Christian) Munoz and their children Caia Knoles and Milo James Knoles of Torrance, CA, and his son, Ty Munoz of Bakersfield, California; his sister, Barbara (Arthur) Boline of Esko, MN; nephew Brent (Lotta) Kinetz of Stockholm, Sweden; niece Jennifer Kinetz of Telluride, CO; niece Kate (Tony) Krogen of Victoria, MN and nephew Chris (Christine) Boline of Inver Grove Heights, MN.

His ashes will be scattered in the Pacific Ocean. 

Condolences and memories are welcome in the online guest book for James Kinetz at www.bashamfuneralcare.com