Jim Wegman
John Concannon, Publicity
This month’s Personality of the Month is Jim Wegman, a six year member of IMGA.
Jim was born in Brooklyn, NY in 1941 and grew up in Ozone Park, Queens where he was active in the CYO athletic programs. When Jim graduated from John Adams H.S. he had no aspirations about furthering his education. One week after graduation Jim joined the Army and was off to Ft. Dix for basic training. After Communication School at Fort Gordon, GA. Jim volunteered for airborne school with the 101st Airborne Div. Jim thought it would be really exciting to jump out of an airplane. I share Jim’s enthusiasm, but only if the plane was in flames and death was certain. (That is another story).
Jim’s first post-army job was working for the mayor of Chattanooga, TN who was a gubernatorial candidate. Unfortunately, the mayor was defeated and Jim returned to New York. On Christmas Eve of 1962, Jim met Reggie Kuhn and still believes that she is the best Christmas present he ever received. On November 23, 1963, the day after President Kennedy was assassinated, Jim and Reggie were married. Jim’s best man was named Robert Oswald.
In 1963 Jim took a job with the Long Island Railroad but soon realized there were limited opportunities and decided to apply for a civil service job with New York City. Jim took the NYPD exam and six months later he was sworn in as an NYPD recruit and assigned to the Police Academy. He graduated at the top of his class and volunteered for the elite Tactical Patrol Force of the NYPD. For three years Jim worked high crime precincts during high crime hours. In 1968 Jim was chosen to work as a decoy creating and impersonating many characters from a bag lady to a drunken business man to a Hasidic Jewish student. In 1969 Jim was assigned to the Narcotics Division, but after 10 months of buying street level drugs, the “locals” started to catch on to his real identity. Jim stayed with the Narcotics Division training new “narcs” and running street teams. In 1972 Jim was promoted to detective and worked in various units until he left the department in 1985.
Although Jim didn’t have any thoughts of college after high school, he came to realize the value of a degree and in 1980 he graduated from John Jay College of Criminal Justice. While a detective, he began lecturing in security techniques and systems; first at the Police Academy, later at NYU’s School of Real Estate Management and John Jay College of Criminal Justice.
In 1984 Jim was offered the position of Director of Loss Prevention with the New York City Health & Hospital Corporation. He found the HHC politics more than he could tolerate and in 1987 took a position with the Corporate Security Department of Philip Morris, eventually becoming the Corporate Security Manager.
In his spare time Jim partnered with mystery author Lee Harris and helped write 20 murder mysteries. Their first book, The Good Friday Murders, was made into a TV movie by the Hallmark channel.
Jim’s wife, Reggie, graduated from Hunter College became a therapist and eventually, Director of Respiratory Therapy for Franklin General Hospital.
Jim and Reggie came to Sun Lakes in 1997 to visit friends and fell in love with the community. Since relocating in 1999, Jim has served on a number of committees, most recently the Golf Committee in 2014, and is currently a member of the Golf Advisory Group. Reggie is a Unit Captain and hopes to join the Rules and Regulations Committee.
They look forward to many years of happy retirement in Sun Lakes and supporting the community through their involvement in committee work.