James "Jim" Bauer

James L. Bauer, 86, of Chester Springs, PA, passed away peacefully on Friday, September 26, 2025 at his home.

Born in Centralia, Illinois, he was the son of the late James E. Bauer and Glenda M. Stein Bauer.

After high school graduation from Interboro High School in Prospect Park, PA, Jim served in the US Navy where the navy convinced him he should go to college. He was graduated from The Pennsylvania State University, majoring in Industrial Engineering—a career he followed for most of his professional life. Valuing education, he attended the University of Iowa for a master’s degree in management systems.

His career soared with experience derived from employment at Corning Glass, Sylvania, Collins Radio and finally at Fisher Controls, a division of Emerson, in Marshalltown, Iowa. He was sent abroad to Belgium to assist in the startup on a new division of Owens Corning, an honor and experience he highly valued.

Jim continued his education and received recognition from multiple professional societies including Professional Certifications: Licensed Professional Engineer, Registered Professional Engineer, Certified Production & Inventory Management Fellow, and Certification from Association for Supply Chain Management. He enjoyed membership in Institute of Industrial Engineers, Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers, National Society of Professional Engineers, as well as National Rifle Association. He especially enjoyed the intellectual stimulation from membership in the high IQ societies MENSA and Intertel.

Jim was a jack of all things and master of anything he took an interest in. His interests were diverse with physical labor including building complete additions to his house, raising farm animals on his 80 acres in Marshalltown, Iowa, and planting 20,000 trees on his property to make his piece of the world look more like Pennsylvania where he grew up.

His fascination with World War II in the Pacific was sparked when he moved to Marshalltown, Iowa and learned that Admiral Fletcher, who was instrumental in our success over Japan during the war, was born and raised in Marshalltown. Jim wanted Admiral Fletcher to receive more recognition and therefore wrote and published a book Fletcher, Task Force Commander: The Early Years of the Pacific War, published by Manorborn Press, 2010 and distributed by Amazon.

When he read about Charles Ogden’s proposed 850 key English language words that allowed non-English Speakers to successfully communicate in English. He thought it was the key to foreigners’ ability to learn and communicate in English easily. His research led him to establish and direct the Basic English Institute. He developed a website and posted resources for educators from all over the world. A somewhat related interest was in Kleer English Spelling, spelling words as they sounded.

James is survived by his daughter, Fabienne R. Childs and her husband Craig; and by his sister, Peggy L. Glaser, Ph.D.

Services will be private with the family. Donations in his name may be made to the Prospect Park War Memorial Library, 720 Maryland Avenue, Prospect Park, PA 19076.