Jim Codding, developer and adventurer, dies at 91

As a young man, Covelo native Jim Codding served in the Navy toward the end of World War II, and then he inquired about a job with an uncle and fellow veteran on his way to becoming Sonoma County’s best-known land developer.

Hugh Codding told his nephew he’d be pleased to put him to work - and, in fact, would start him at the top.

“I liked the sound of that,” Jim Codding recalled at the 2010 funeral for his brash and hugely successful uncle.

Early one morning about 70 years ago, he reported to a job site at which a Codding construction crew was erecting a building. His uncle, true to his word, sent him right to the top - onto the roof, to lug and nail seemingly innumerable shingles.

Though Jim Codding found all that substantially less amusing than his uncle did, he made construction and development his livelihood. The work also was the means to earn the money he’d need to travel the world as an adventurer, lover of history, big-game hunter and wildlife conservationist.

Jim Codding died Thursday at the age of 91.

The longtime resident of Santa Rosa traveled 16 times to Africa and many times to Europe, and was a guest of President Ronald Reagan at a state dinner at the White House.

Peter Codding, one of his sons and a Santa Rosa contractor, spoke of him being full of life, socially adept and a man consistently “in the right place at the right time.”

After starting out in residential and commercial land development with Hugh Codding, he worked for a time in insurance and then became a partner of large-scale shopping center builder Francis Carrington.

Jim Codding did well enough in the business to move to semi-retirement when he was 51. He founded a travel service specializing in hunting adventures and trekked frequently to Kenya, Tanzania and Botswana.

Witnessing the tragedy of poaching, he became active in the Mzuri Wildlife Foundation, which promotes a vision of responsible hunting and wildlife conservation.

Codding, an avid reader who finished the entire collection of Harvard Classics, also traveled to enhance his understanding of world history and cultures.

“Before he’d go to Italy he would read the history of Caesar,” Peter Codding said. “If he went to Egypt, he’d read ‘Antony and Cleopatra.’?”

James William Codding was born May 6, 1927, in Ukiah to Virginia and Bruce Lincoln Codding. Bruce Codding was an older brother to Hugh Codding.

Jim Codding had just started school when ?his folks left Covelo in ?rural Mendocino County and moved to Oakland. From there the family relocated to Ross, in Marin County.

Codding attended Tamalpais High and came to be captain of both the varsity basketball and football teams. World War II was still on when, shortly after graduation, he enlisted in the Navy.

Peter Codding said his father was on a ship and headed to join the fight against Japan when the U.S. dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and the war ended. Seaman Jim Codding was diverted to Hawaii and assigned to help shine and clean a yacht.

“That is the story of his life,” Peter Codding said.

Following his honorable discharge, Jim Codding returned to Marin County and took classes at College of Marin. He went on to Stanford University, earning a degree in political science.

Codding then came to Santa Rosa and went to work for his uncle Hugh, who was just 10 years his senior and was building the Montgomery Village shopping center and neighborhood east of downtown.

Jim Codding worked his way off the roofs and into the office, assuming leadership responsibilities in the areas of leasing and property management. He tried his hand in the insurance business before teaming up with Carrington.

As a young man in the early 1950s, Codding married Jone Ann Pedersen of Santa Rosa’s long-standing furniture retailing family, and they created a family. That marriage ended in divorce.

Jim Codding was single until his marriage to Sandi Siri in 1981. Among the highlights of their well-traveled life together was sitting with former President Gerald Ford at a wildlife conservation banquet and visiting with President Ronald Reagan and first lady Nancy Reagan, at a state dinner for the King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofía of Spain.

Sandi Codding died in 2014 at the age of 70.

Jim Codding’s sons said he remained enthralled with life and the world right up to his death from pancreatic cancer. “Having friends and family and a great life was what gave my father the oomph,” said Jim Codding Jr. of Santa Rosa.

In addition to his two sons, Jim Codding is survived by his daughter, Nancy Codding of Santa Rosa; stepdaughter Nancy Owen of Santa Rosa; brother Richard Codding of Coeur d’Alene, Idaho; and nine grandchildren.

A memorial service will be held at 1 p.m. Feb. 11 at Star of the Valley Catholic Church in Oakmont.

Codding’s family suggests memorial contributions be made to Memorial Hospice, 439 College Ave., Santa Rosa 95401 or stjoesonoma.org/foundations. Contributions also can be made to the American Cancer Society, 1451 Guerneville Road, No. 220, Santa Rosa 95403, or www.cancer.org.

You can reach Staff Writer Chris Smith at 707-521-5211 or chris.smith@pressdemocrat.com.