Jim Blom

December 3, 1928 - September 7, 2021

C. James Blom (Jim), passed away peacefully at home. He was born in Berkeley where his Norwegian parents, Berglijot Hovde and Carl Blom met. The family moved to Portland, Oregon and in 1940 moved to San Marino. 

With a bachelor's degree in geology from Caltech, Jim departed to the University of Innsbruck, Austria where he spent three years earning his PhD in geology. Not only did his skiing improve; but his German became perfect. And there he met and married his Austrian love, Olly Zangerl. When Jim finished his thesis he sprinted back to Fort Ord with his bride in tow where he had been summoned to complete his two year stint in the US Army. He was stationed at the Presidio of San Francisco and worked in a mapping company creating topographical maps of Guadalcanal.

While Jim was searching for oil in California with Standard Oil of California, daughter Moni was born and the Bloms moved to Ojai. Second daughter, Christine was born in nearby Ventura. The traditional search for oil influenced their move to Bakersfield where their third daughter, Karin was born. The family was complete.

In 1964, Jim was hired as a geologist by Occidental Petroleum and in 1966 the family embarked on an once-in-a-lifetime adventure by moving to Tripoli, Libya. Jim was part of the Oxy effort in discovering two extremely productive oil wells producing an average of 600,000 barrels of oil per day. With Colonel Gaddafi's coup d'tat, the long reigning King Idris was overthrown and the Bloms were back to Bakersfield with Jim continuing to search for more oil in the eastern hemisphere.

After 20 years with Oxy, Jim became a consultant and finally transitioned to doing what he really loved to do:  traveling, skiing, ocean swimming, playing tennis, golfing, hiking, and helping his daughters remodel their homes. Jim was also a supporter of the Henrietta Weill Child Guidance Clinic, YMCA, CALM, and Gleaners. Additionally, he was an active member of Rotary Club of Bakersfield.

As a consummate optimist, it was always a pleasure to be in Jim's company. He loved all gatherings with family and friends and his compassionate gentle ear was always listening for the latest adventure. Jim was an avid music lover, voracious reader, and had a keen eye for discovering interesting art anywhere. He will be so dearly missed and will be remembered for his kind and nonjudgmental energy topped by his rascally sense of humor.

Jim is survived by his daughters, Moni Blom (Stewart Strange), Christine Gomez (Daniel), Karin Williams (Kevin), and his sister, Andrea Blom (SPHS '48). He is also survived by three grandchildren.

Bakersfield Californian, September 9, 2021

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Jim had a very successful career as an exploration geologist with Occidental Petroleum Company. He was one of the Oxy geologists in Libya who worked on and brought in a major oil discovery with huge oil reserves for Occidental. He was a good man.

Don Hibbard '45