We are so sad to learn of Our dear friends passing.  Fond memories were made at Wright State University in the machine shop, whenever I needed a metal part made Jim couldn’t wait to get started on making it and our friendship grew.  
Then we discovered we had a love for old cars and it wasn’t long before we were attending car shows and critiquing these fine machines.  I even went on a road trip with him to bring back an  old truck from Michigan that Jim wanted to restore, we got it home rolled it in his garage and to see the excitement rolling out of him was priceless.
Jim will never be forgotten 
You will be missed 
-Dennis & Lisa Urban

Favorite memories are the weekly lunches we had at Panera Bread for many years. 

My husband, Kevin Strange, and I knew Jim from  our time at Wright State, back in the 80s.  Jim helped Kevin build some unique devices for his research at the medical school. I was constantly running back & forth to the shop. Jim ran a good crew. They were all artisans of their craft and we sure need more like that today! Jim and his shop were all very professional, considerate and understood the demands and time constraints that we had to work under in the lab. It was always such a pleasure to deal with them. Everyone had a good sense of humor, which made tough days easier to take. He was talented and a sweetheart. We know he will be sorely missed.

Sorry to hear the passing of Jim Arehart. Jim was a Classmate of mine (1953) while going to school In Xenia Ohio. Rest In Peace and God Bless You.

I met Jim in 1991 when I joined the faculty of the WSU Physiology Dept as a new Assistant Professor. Shortly after arriving, I approached Jim with the idea of building a hyperbaric (high pressure) chamber that I could use for my rat brain research. My goal was to mimic the extreme environment of diving at high pressure while my rats breathed artificial atmospheres commonly used by U.S.N. Special Operations Forces that can cause neurological problems. Jim, of course, said, "sure, we can do that!" 
     Shortly thereafter, Jim & I flew to Bethesda, Maryland to visit the U.S. Navy's Medical Research Center and tour their hyperbaric labs to view their various human and animal research chambers to learn how to build such things...safely! The photo of Jim next to the hard hat "Diver Jake" was taken during that trip in the mid-1990s. Later, we drove to Louisville, KY together to visit the factory that was building my first pressure chamber. All told, Jim would help me outfit five hyperbaric pressure research chambers for my growing research program while at Wright State and later USF Tampa. I'd also hook him up with the U.S. Navy's Experimental Diving Unit in Pensacola, FL and he'd build them a research chamber too during his "retirement".  
     To the Arehart Family, your father/grandfather was a wonderful man. I couldn't have had the successful career I've had for the last quarter century without Jim's assistance, knowledge, expertise and guidance. But more importantly than making the science possible for me by the unique tools and machines he designed and built me, he was a true friend and colleague. I smile now as I recall the many WSU Machine Shop Christmas Luncheons he organized and his willingness to take on all the crazy "jobs" I inquired about, and always with a smile and great enthusiasm. A kinder man  I'll never know.  Rest well Jim.--Jay B. Dean, Univ. of South Florida, Tampa, FL.

I met Jim when he started working in the model shop at Wright State. (I was the faculty supervisor of the shop.) After Howard DuFour retired Jim became head of the shop. For many years (both before and after he retired) we met weekly for lunch at Panera Bread. (I am attaching a photo below I took at one of our lunch meetings.) We shared many memories and activities and current events in our lives. One of them had to do with the Wright Brothers project where we were active in the building of the accurate full-scale 1903 plane which hangs in the atrium of the WSU library. We also graveled the country together recording interviews with Charlie Taylor's family (I later edited an oral history based on this.) Jim also helped me with little home projects, just as he helped many others generously with fixing things for them.  The bottom line for me (and many others) is that Jim was a genuinely good man. He leaves some wonderful memories and a huge gap in the lives of all of those he knew and helped and loved. Eating lunch at Panera Bread will never be the same again even though he will be with me in some way.

OBITUARY

James "Jim" D. Arehart

February 26, 1935 – July 9, 2021

Tobias Funeral Home - Beavercreek Chapel

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