James Vincent Mascuch

Passed away on 7/17/2015. Jim was the son of Joseph and Catherine Mascuch, born 2/17/1933, in Passaic, NJ, where he lived at 74 Henry Street, in St. Nicholas Parish, as a child. He was educated at St. Nicholas School and St Mary’s High School; he later graduated from Seton Hall University. Jim’s years in NJ led to fond memories of The Shore and a lifetime of rooting for the NY Giants.

Jim met Margaret “Peggy” Jones at the Jersey Shore in 1957 and they married in 1959. They had four children and spent 43 years together until Peggy’s death in January 2003.

Jim was drafted into the Army in 1956, was stationed in Maryland where he served two years with the Honor Guard in the 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment and was honorably discharged in 1962 at the rank of Specialist Fourth Class.

In early 1960’s Jim began work for Hewitt Robins in sales, where he eventually specialized in large mining equipment and lent his expertise to the 1968 expansion of Chile’s Chuquicamata copper mine, now the second deepest open-pit mine in the world. Early on Jim developed a reputation for service, of which he was most proud; he was a gifted engineer and solved many complex product installation problems in the field, saving time and expense. Jim later worked for other international heavy equipment firms including Humboldt Wedag, Rexnord and Krupp Industries. With these positions came moves from NJ, to Moraga, CA; Atlanta, GA; Houston, TX; Denver, CO; and Canonsburg, PA. Jim traveled widely for his work and loved aviation. He was thrilled by a trip from NY to London on the Concorde in 1978. Jim also loved residential architecture. He enjoyed designing and planning home improvement projects for each of his homes over the years.

Jim retired from the heavy equipment industry in 1997. He moved from PA to Woodstock, GA in 2001, when Peggy became ill, to be closer to his children who had been raised in Atlanta and settled in that area. After Peggy’s death Jim moved to the Stonegate portion of Bridgemill in Canton, where he became active with the Stonegate Homeowner’s Association and was a fixture of the local community. In Stonegate Jim found many friends and was the beneficiary of much kindness for his Association advocacy. He said the feeling of belonging in Stonegate reminded him of his early years growing up on Henry Street.

In his last decade Jim decided to fulfill a lifetime dream of owning and learning to ride a motorcycle, completing and passing the driving course in 2006. He never took his 1990 Harley Davidson Heritage Softtail on a long distance ride but just knowing that he could was enough.

Jim was known among his friends as the “cat with nine lives,” for his ability to bounce back from health crises. The Mascuch family wishes to thank Jim’s Stonegate neighbors and other friends who looked out for and cared about Jim, as well as the doctors and nursing staff at Kennestone hospital and the Wellstar group, for extending Jim’s life and helping to make it quality time.

Jim is survived by two brothers; Joseph (Dennise) of Haverford PA, and Gerald (Anne) of Manchester, NJ. His daughters; Jamie Mascuch Wilson (grandson Mitchell) of Overland Park, KS and Clare Mascuch Winslow (Mark) of Atlanta, GA. His sons; Michael (Lianne Morrison, and grandchildren Louisa and Moses) of Berkeley CA and Matthew (Jamie Stray and granddaughter Madison) of Woodstock, GA. In addition a number of nieces and nephews.

His body will be cremated and a wake will be held on Saturday, July 25, at his house, 111 Stonegate, from 2pm to 5pm. In lieu of flowers, the family would like for you to consider a donation to the Cherokee County Humane Society in Jim’s name.