The Green Foothills community was saddened to learn of the passing of Jim Foran, who served on our Board of Directors from 2005 to 2012. Jim came to us with an incredibly stellar resume in technology and local environmental leadership. Professionally, Jim had a successful career as a senior technical manager for graphics and 3d rendering at Silicon Graphics during that company’s heyday in the 1990s (think Nintendo 64 and the CGI in the movie Jurassic Park).

Jim leaves a legacy of protected hillsides in Milpitas, and leading many local campaigns including for Measure Z, the Urban Growth Boundary. He held a number of community leadership roles in addition to Green Foothills including the Santa Clara County Parks Commission, The Bay Area Ridge Trail Council, and the San Francisco Bay Trail Board of Directors. As an elected member of the Santa Clara Valley Open Space Authority board of directors, Jim helped steward the important relationship between our two agencies.

Jim was very knowledgeable and well connected, friendly and personable, and always willing to help out at our events. I was sorry to see him leave the board but happy he was able to spend his final years in his favorite places with loved ones. I miss him, and am grateful for having known him.