GRAND FORKS, N.D. – Jim Bollman, the longtime radio announcer whose familiar voice reached listeners throughout the Grand Forks area for decades, died Wednesday.
Bollman's daughter Lana Beaton said he "passed peacefully, surrounded by love" just after 6 p.m. The news of Bollman's passing Wednesday evening came less than a day after his family announced cancer treatments had stopped and that he had started hospice care.
"The easiest decision I ever made was to marry my beloved Jim," Bollman's wife Ginny wrote in a post on his CaringBridge website Tuesday. "Today I made the hardest decision."
Bollman worked for 55 years in radio, the last 45 in Grand Forks, according to a 2012 Herald story about his retirement. At the time, he was working a morning shift at KNOX-1310 AM. Bollman was also a play-by-play announcer for UND football and basketball games.
Bollman served on the Grand Forks Park Board for 16 years. Herald archives indicate he was at least 79 years old.
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Before the news of Bollman's death, colleagues shared fond memories of the radio personality.
Dave Gunther, who coached the UND men's basketball team for 18 years, called Bollman "a wonderful man" and a "great friend." Bollman called games for most of Gunther's time as coach, he said.
Tim Hennessy, who does play-by-play for UND men's hockey, said he learned the radio business from Bollman. He called Bollman a "strong individual."
"He had an extreme amount of loyal listeners," Hennessy said. "If Jim Bollman said something, then that's the way it was."
Hennessy said Bollman had a "definite passion for UND sports."
Bollman was diagnosed with metastatic melanoma in October, and the cancer spread to other areas of his body, according to his CaringBridge page.
Ginny Bollman said Tuesday her husband's brain tumors have become "so large that he is disoriented and needs constant care. The tumors in his spine are so painful that he cannot get any level of comfort without heavy doses of meds.
"Jim wanted to come home to spend his last days here," she added. "He wants peace."
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While family members have known Bollman was ill for some time, recent weeks have been especially tough, according to the CaringBridge website.
"I have to swallow hard and fend off a tear when I look at him the last few days," Beaton wrote Monday. "Great stories and 'the voice' have faded, and one (to) two word answers have replaced them."
Beaton wrote Wednesday morning that Bollman had "a more restful night" after a hospice visit and some tweaks to his medication. She asked that visits be reserved for family.
"We miss him more than words will ever express already," Beaton wrote Wednesday night.
