It is my most unpleasant duty to announce to our forum family that yesterday the ABS lost a very special member, supporter and friend. Yesterday, I was notified by his daughter Stephanie, that her father, Dr. Jim Lucie has passed away. Most of you know Dr. Lucie from his work with William Scagel style knives, as well as the book he wrote about Scagel. Jim was the worlds foremost expert on Scagel knives and had been William Scagel’s personal physician, before becoming a knifemaker himself. Jim was a strong supporter of the ABS and when he retired from knifemaking, he donated his equipment to the ABS Schools, many may not know that the official name for the ABS classes taught at the SOFA facility on Troy OH is the “James Lucie” ABS School due to so much of the equipment that made it possible.

I had the privilege of calling Jim a very good friend, and spent many hours sharing a good wine with him while studying original Scagel knives in Jim’s collection. Often late in the evening, after hours of laughing, debating and just chatting, Jim would declare that we had solved all the worlds problems so we could call it a day. It was very difficult to tell my wife and daughter, as they both cared for Jim very much. But, above all, our hearts go out to Jim’s four daughters and their families.

There is a nice obituary for Jim at https://obits.mlive.com/obituaries/muskegon/obituary.aspx?n=james-lucie&pid=195583034 , where there is a link to www.forevermissed.com/drjimlucie/about if you wish to share a story or kind word.