James W. Bridges Jr.

JAMES W. BRIDGES, JR., beloved husband, father, grandfather, uncle, and friend departed to be with his Lord and Savior Jesus Christ on Sunday, the 30th of August 2015, at his home in Sugar Land, Texas, surrounded by his family.

Jim graduated from Jeff Davis High School in 1955. While attending church in North Houston with his family, he met the love of his life, Darlene Randall. Jim was a member of the Texas A&M University class of 1959 and was in the Corps of Cadets. He earned both a B.S. and M.S. degree in Civil Engineering. Jim served as an officer in the United States Army Corps of Engineers, and then began his professional career as a structural engineer. It was not long before he recognized the great leverage the computer could provide to solving engineering problems, and he founded a software company, Synercom Technologies, with partners Evan Pappas and Doug King. From the early structural analysis of metal buildings, the company grew to supply solutions for the analysis of offshore platforms and eventually developed one of the first GIS (Geographic Information Systems) platforms. After a successful IPO, Jim left to start his second software company—Knowledge Systems. Like Synercom, Knowledge Systems developed over its twenty-plus years into a strong, profitable and growing company. KSI was recognized with the Enterprise Award from the Houston Business Journal, acknowledged as one of the fastest growing small businesses in Houston and received the Aggie 100 award two years in a row.

Jim’s life is best remembered by his love for his wife, children, grandchildren, family and friends, his tireless and dedicated work ethic in the software industry, and his devotion to spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He served on the Board of Directors of Second Mile Mission Center, African Outreach Ministries, and Lamb and Lion Ministries. In 2008, he established the Bridges Evangelical Foundation to support ministries worldwide.

Jim was preceded in death by his parents, James and Merle Bridges, sister, Judy Byrd and granddaughter, Hope Webster. He is survived by his wife of 57 years, Darlene Bridges, his children, Jim Bridges and wife Sally, Jennifer Webster and husband Jamey, his grandchildren, Catherine Hopkins and husband Jake, Cameron Bridges, Abigail Bridges, Faith Webster and Julia Webster, and numerous nieces and nephews.

Friends are cordially invited to a funeral service at 3:30 pm on Thursday, September 3rd at Sugar Creek Baptist Church 13223 Southwest Frwy. in Sugar Land, TX.

In lieu of usual remembrances, memorial contributions may be directed to Second Mile Mission Center at www.secondmile.org or mailed to Second Mile, 1135 Hwy 90A, Missouri City, TX 77489.