Jim Lapsley

(Crown ’71, history)

A native Californian, Jim Lapsley is a member of Crown College’s first four-year class (1967–1971). He met his wife, Carol (Crown ’71), at Crown, and they married above the Quarry Amphitheater in 1971. Carol earned her special education teaching credential at UCSC.

They moved to Woodland in 1972 when Jim began graduate work in history at UC Davis and Carol was hired as a special education teacher. They have lived happily in Woodland and raised two children, Grace Marie Martinez and Jakob Cole Lapsley, in the historic valley town. Jim first made wine in 1973 in their basement and celebrated 50 years of commercial and home production last year.

Jim received his Ph.D. in American agricultural history from UC Davis and has held several academic positions at UC Davis, first as a continuing education specialist directing agricultural programs, and later as an adjunct professor with the Department of Viticulture and Enology. His dissertation Bottled Poetry, a study of the development of the Napa Valley, was published by UC Press, and his book, Successful Wine Marketing, co-edited with Kirby Moulton, won the grand prix from the Organization Internationale de la Vigne et du Vin. Since his retirement in 2009, he has worked part-time as an academic researcher focused on wine and grape economics and history for UC’s Agricultural Issues Center.

In 2016, Jim reconnected with Crown College when he was interviewed for a video documenting Crown’s first 50 years. He initiated a fundraising drive to refurbish the Crown Library in 2017 and the Fireside Lounge the following year. In 2022, following a reunion of the Pioneer classes that Su Nerton, Lisa Rose, and Jim organized, they collectively conducted the successful campaign to raise $1 million for Crown College from members of the Pioneer classes.