Get togethers with Jeff often included pizza at a Chicagoland eatery. Here’s Jeff (r) with our long-time Mark (l), a bond going back to elementary school.
It has been some time since I’ve posted to this blog. For reasons that will quickly become clear, it is appropriate for transitions to be the centering theme of this entry.
Jeffery P. Yamada (1961-2024)
The very sad transition that I must report is the passing of my brother, Jeff Yamada, last October, after a short illness.
Jeff was a kindhearted soul and an intelligent and stubbornly independent individual. He was always true to his own rules and values and never got caught up in popular trends. He lived minimally, took strong umbrage at the rightward political direction of the nation, and often positioned himself at the edge of the grid.
My brother grew up in northwest Indiana and spent most of his adult life living in Glen Ellyn, Illinois. After studying graphic arts at Hammond Gavit High School and at Indiana State University, he became a self-taught techie who set up and fixed computer systems, both for fees and (very often) for free. Many family members and friends owe him thanks whenever they turn on their computers.
Jeff is dearly missed by his family and a coterie of long-time friends. Although he had some health issues that contributed to his early passing, and our family had lost older cousins of this generation, he was the first of my more immediate age cohort of siblings and cousins to die. This was a jolt to some of us.
Jeff also died without a will, just weeks before he turned 63. I will gently use this opportunity to urge all of us to get our affairs in order earlier than later. Without such directives, the legal and personal challenges of settling one’s estate multiply considerably.
I know that after our mom passed in 2002, Jeff missed her dearly. (So do Iā¦.) I hope that somehow, some way, he is reunited with her.
(The photo above captures what became an informal ritual when I would return to the Chicagoland area for a visit. Jeff, our long-time friend Mark, and I would meet up at a local pizza place for a bite to eat and to catch up on things.)
Phasing into semi-retirement
The happier transition to report is that this fall, I am starting a voluntary phased retirement program at my university. For the next three academic years, I’ll be assigned a half-time teaching load with a proportionately lower salary. It’s a smart, gradual off-ramping approach from a full-time teaching career that just concluded its 34th year.
That said, I’m not going anywhere. I will stay professionally active even after this phased retirement period concludes. I will remain visible as a scholar, advocate, and subject-matter expert on workplace bullying, therapeutic jurisprudence, and similar topics that have been deep focal points over the years. I also plan to continue teaching on a very part-time basis. In addition, I will maintain a set of active volunteer commitments to various non-profit boards and advisory groups.
But as much as I have enjoyed teaching and working with a lot of wonderful students, I will not miss the piles of final exams and term papers to grade at semester’s end. Furthermore, after teaching on Monday and Wednesday evenings during both semesters for many years, I’ll be happy to be free from the built-in structure of an academic schedule.
I’ll be even more delighted to jettison the various faculty and committee meetings that can eat up so much of academic life. If there’s one aspect of my academic job that has failed to return equivalent satisfaction in terms of time and energy invested, it’s this one. So much time goes into supporting good ideas that never come to fruition and opposing bad ideas that somehow manage to gain momentum.
Overall, I’m happy to be stepping away from my full-time professorial job on my own terms. It has been a good run and a tremendously rewarding career in many ways, and now it’s time to strive for the kind of work-life balance that has largely eluded me on this journey so far. This will include more socializing, karaoke singing, quality binge viewing, reading for pleasure and mental stimulation, and some travel, among other things. I’m looking forward to it.
Musings of a Gen Joneser 
Jeff sounds like a wonderful soul and he looks like you (but with some hair š Sorry for the loss and hope the estate wrangling doesn’t take too long.
And congratulations on starting the next part of the journey! 34 years is an amazing milestone. At NYU, I never thought I’d see you sit still enough to focus on a single area for so long. But thanks to you for all you and have done and continue to do. Have missed seeing you for so long – hope that changes soon now that travel is in both of our futures.
Patrick