James Anthony Branzuela

James Anthony Branzuela was born September 15, 1986 to Donald and Nola at Torrance Memorial Hospital. He was the third child, first son, and fortuitously named after a literary hero – James Bond. Although James was always a quiet child, he was a bit mischievous, and he quickly became known as a “picky” or “difficult” eater, refusing to eat vegetables, fruit, or anything that wasn’t steak or pizza – as per Ninja Turtle advice. This was definitely a source of frustration in our family but over time, his allowable food list grew to include turkey legs, pepperoni on pizza, teriyaki chicken, and corn from that time we convinced him corn was okay to eat because the super cool Native Americans ate it.

Something that James had a bigger appetite for was reading – he read all kinds of books and comics. He especially loved fantasy and anime. I’ll never forget standing in line at those midnight release parties at Borders for the latest Harry Potter book. I remember thinking how lame it was only for me to borrow James’s copy to read for myself in later years. When James was younger, he convinced our dad to let him and a few of his buddies rent a hotel room to go to an Anime convention. We visited him there just to check on him and we found the room innocently overflowing with more gaming consoles than kids and of course, pizza boxes and Pepsi bottles.

The facts are James just always knew what he wanted and he wasn’t afraid to pursue happiness. Whether that was refusing to eat something he didn’t like or moving to Arizona to live with friends none of us knew – which we all thought was crazy – James was always living his life how he wanted. He had a very close-knit group of friends he knew for many years. He finished his Associate’s degree in Criminal Justice - in his own time. He never refused the endless requests of favors that come from having three sisters – including the things Ally thought were too gross like killing spiders. He was a great uncle who babysat his nieces and nephews whenever asked and he loved meeting all the new babies in our family.

When you look at photos we have of James, there are many serious face poses right before capturing the laughter if you were willing to wait for that second shot. He could talk to you for hours about anything he was passionate about, including the Marvel Universe, Star Wars miniatures, Dungeons and Dragons, Anime, and all the other card games he loved. He was thoughtful and insightful and so wonderfully subtly funny if you took the time to listen to him. He was an amazing son, brother, uncle, and friend who lived his life without regret and he will be terribly missed by everyone who knew him, loved him, and shared an inside joke or two with him.

James is survived by his parents, siblings, his nieces and nephews, his big extended family, and his dogs and cat who he loved dearly.