James "Jim" Roth

Jim Roth (September 10, 1957 - January 2, 2024) was a poet and a broker. He was born in the Western Hills neighborhood of Cincinnati, Ohio. There Jim lived a charmed childhood as the only son with four sisters whom he adored and absolutely never picked on. While he always considered himself a Cincinnati boy, his life took him north, making homes in Oxford, Darrtown, Hamilton, and finally Perrysburg, Ohio.

Jim’s love of learning started at St. Jude School, where he made lifelong friends. He then went to Elder High School where he was the drum major for the Marching Panthers and apparently had a splendid time with a hoard of other young troublemakers. After high school, he attended Miami University where he achieved a BA in Sociology, despite spending most of his time waxing philosophical with his many Deadhead friends. After graduating he didn’t know what to do with the BA, so went back to Miami where he got an MA in Sociology. Meanwhile, he met the love of his life slinging tacos and 3.2 beer at The Balcony. He didn’t know what to do with the MA in Sociology, so he became the sales manager for 97X, the greatest radio station in the history of time. Things progressed. Realizing a small-town radio station job could not support a wife and two kids, he was roped into the lucrative world of real estate. And it worked!

He founded Jim Roth Realty (still existing as EquiRealty), a business in which he helped hundreds, maybe thousands, of people buy and sell homes, many of whom became lifelong friends.

The Oxford and early Darrtown years were magical, raising two townie children and hanging out with other young families, notably the “Card Club,” a monthly roving get-together. As his children grew up, Jim had time to enjoy pub trivia at local watering holes. He got to know countless other trivia lovers, especially the dear friends who made up his trivia team “Furious George” (Winners of the Last Call Trivia tournament! First prize, $2,800! Second prize, cozies!). In 2015 Jim moved to what ended up being his favorite place on earth, Hamilton, Ohio. He was so impressed by the community and felt he was a part of it. At the dawn of the Covid shutdown, Jim reluctantly left his beloved adopted home of Hamilton for the Lake Erie watershed town of Perrysburg, Ohio. There, he whiled away his days trying to set the next generation straight by materially participating in the lives of his grandchildren.

Throughout his life, Jim faced health issues, starting at 3 months old when he lost one of his kidneys and was not expected to live. His remaining kidney soldiered on until the ripe old age of 38, at which time he suffered acute kidney failure. Thanks to the wonders of medical science, his loving wife was able to cut him a deal that she would trade a kidney for all future household cleaning. The kidney worked. The debt remains unpaid. Krista and Jim became history’s only known literal “Miami Merger.”

Jim’s next health challenge was an operation on his parathyroid which damaged his vocal cords and left him unable to speak for an entire year. Krista still wistfully refers to this period as “the greatest year of my life.”

Then, after a satisfying 20-year relationship with the blood pressure medicine lisinopril, Jim developed a sudden allergy which left him in a medically induced coma for five days.

Next, a routine dentist appointment diagnosed ameloblastoma. Treatment required surgery in which his lower left jaw was removed and replaced by bone from his leg. Part of the long recovery included a liquid-only diet, to which Jim said, “I’m going to eat a cheeseburger as slow as possible instead.”

In between all these rare health issues, he also beat cancer in round one.

Jim’s final health challenge was the inevitable result of 25 years of immunosuppression. It was too much.

Jim had many loves. Trivia. Keno. The US presidents. Whiskey. He was a poet, philosopher, great father and husband, historian, and avid chess player. And if you knew him, you know that his favorite thing was learning about other people. You should count yourself lucky if he ever had a deep conversation with you and then wrote you a poem on a bar napkin. He didn’t dwell on the bad (of which there was plenty) and he lived his life in a positive way.

He is survived by his wife of 42 years, Krista; his son, Eli (Meghan); daughter, Trudy (Choman); grandchildren, Mattie and Julian; his sisters, Susan (Tim); Jane (Tom), Besty (John); and many nieces, nephews, friends, and family.

He was preceded in death by his father, Jerome; his mother, Ann Etta; and his sister, Barbara.

In lieu of flowers, please consider heading to a local pub, buying a stranger a shot of Jameson, and asking them a friendly question. Or just put Tom Waits on the jukebox.

A Jim-approved send-off will be held on Saturday, April 6, 2024, at 2:00 pm at The Drink Tavern, 238 Hensel Place, Hamilton, OH 45011. Come share a drink and a memory with us.