James Simari

Sep 20, 2024 | Obituaries, Obituaries 2024 | 2 comments

James (Jim) John Simari, 96, died in Overland Park, Kansas on September 19, 2024. He is survived by his wife of 70 years, Natalie Rodgers (Cumming) Simari, and three children, Gail Elizabeth Humfeld (Terry Humfeld) Avondale, Pennsylvania; John Stephen Simari (Michele Parness) The Colony, Texas and Robert David Simari (Kelly Stavros) Mission Hills, Kansas, nine grandchildren and 14 great-grandchildren. He is preceded in death by his father Luigi, mother Nancy, sisters Vera and Lorraine, brothers Frank, Robert, and Joseph, and half-sister Sue.

Jim was born and raised in Hingham, MA. His father died when Jim was three and he was raised by an incredible single mother in an Italian-American neighborhood. Returning to school after dropping out of high school, he not only graduated from Hingham High School in 1947 but was the only sibling to graduate from college (New England College of Pharmacy, 1951). He started his pharmacy career at Dykeman Drugs in Hingham where he had worked as a teen. He married Natalie Rogers Cumming on January 23, 1954, and they soon started a family in Hingham. Actively engaged in the Sons of Italy Lodge, Jim served as Venerable.

In 1966, Jim started as a salesman for Ayerst Pharmaceuticals. In 1970, Jim was promoted to district sales manager and the family moved to Overland Park, KS where he lived until 1987. After he retired, they moved to Sarasota and subsequently to Bradenton, FL. In 2016, they moved back to Overland Park, to live at Prairie Elder Care in his final months. A lifetime Catholic, Jim was a member of Cure of Ars Parish in Leawood, Kansas. Jim was known to all as a kind and generous husband, father, and friend. He took great pride in engaging with his grandkids by visiting and handwriting letters including incredible stories both real and imagined. He rose from a very modest upbringing to be a patriarch of an ambitious and hardworking family of which he was exceedingly proud. His love and dedication to his wife of 70 years and his family will remain an example of a life well-lived to all who will remember him.

Visitation and services will be held at Cure of Ars Catholic Church, 9401 Mission Rd, Leawood, KS on Friday, September 27, 2024. Visitation will be held at 9:30 AM with a Mass of Christian Burial at 10:30. Lunch in the Fr. Burak room will follow. The family suggests gifts in James Simari’s memory be directed to the Ronald McDonald House of Kansas City 2502 Cherry St, Kansas City, MO. The service can be streamed at http://www.cureofars.com/funeral

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Joni simari

2 years ago

SO BEAUTIFUL, We will all miss him❤️

Betty Vafides Forbes

2 years ago

My sincere sympathy and prayers to Natalie and family. Jim was a wonderful man and will be missed.

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