James W. “Jim” Elmer is being remembered as a prominent Spokane contractor and a nationally recognized construction industry advocate with a big personality.

Jim, 77, who was born and raised in Spokane, died Jan. 6. He had a 43-year career in construction, including founding James W. Elmer Construction Co. in 1991, before retiring in 2013, says his son Rob Elmer.

Elmer Construction specialized in commercial and light industrial construction and was involved in many Housing and Urban Development-backed multifamily housing projects and downtown tenant-improvement projects.

“He enjoyed being able to drive around town and say, ‘We built that,’” Rob says. “He really loved his remodels and historical renovations.”

Rob says his father was particularly fond of a renovation project at the Hotel Lusso in the late 1990s.

“That was really big for him—just the grand scale of it all,” Rob says.

For example, to put in new elevators, the project called for cutting through the roof for the elevator shaft, he says.

“It also had unique finishes and a lobby fountain,” Rob adds.

Jim was active throughout much of his career in promoting open competition in the construction industry regardless of a contractor’s labor affiliation, says Kate McCaslin, a former executive with open-shop trade group Associated Builders & Contractors’ Inland Pacific Chapter.

His involvement with ABC started in 1984, and he began volunteering to serve on several legislative committees. He served as chairman of the Inland Pacific Chapter in 1991, and in 2008 was vice chairman of ABC’s Region 1, which includes Washington, Idaho, Oregon, California, and seven other Western states. In 2010, he was elected to serve as ABC’s national chairman.

Speaking of his rise in the organization, Jim once told the Journal in jest, “I raised my hand to volunteer too many times.”

McCaslin recalls, “Jim was an amazing individual and a fabulous contractor. He was very active in ABC both at the chapter level, where I got to know him and also through politics.”

McCaslin, who was a Spokane County Commissioner from 1997 to 2004 and the ABC Inland Pacific Chapter president and CEO from 2005 to 2015, says she was most impressed by Elmer’s devotion to free enterprise.

“It was great to have him as a national chairman,” she says. “Inland Pacific was a midsized chapter, so that was especially notable that he wasn’t from one of the larger chapters.”

Just to be nominated for the position, though, he had to show that his business was strong enough that he could be away from it for much of the time to handle leadership responsibilities with ABC, she says.

“Jim was really proud of his son Rob, who took over,” McCaslin says. “Rob’s presence allowed him to be national chair.”

She adds that Jim had a big personality.

“He was always smiling and laughing. You could always find him because of his laugh,” she says. “Jim was just a very great human being and had that genuineness that allowed him to rise through ABC and other things he did.”

Sarah Cottam, the current president and CEO of ABC Inland Pacific Chapter, says Jim was already retired when she was coming up through the ranks in the Spokane-based chapter, but she came to know him as he attended events and came into the office.

“He was a big supporter of workforce development and me growing in my career,” says Cottam, who started at ABC 10 years ago. “He took the sting out of my nervousness. I was starting as a nobody, and he just believed in me the whole time.”

Rob, who bought James W. Elmer Construction in 2013 after having worked there full-time for 11 years, says he was inspired by his father’s passion for construction and his joy in building places and spaces to help other companies thrive.

“I find myself having that same kind of enjoyment building relationships and meeting people in all industries,” he says.

After the company changed hands, Jim occasionally visited the office at 3022 E. Boone but usually kept tabs on the business from a distance, says Rob, who tweaked the company name to JW Elmer Construction.

“He enjoyed retirement,” Rob says. “He traveled all over in planes, trains, and boats with his wife, Sue, who he married in 2012. He enjoyed the outdoors, Hawaii, and Glacier National Park.”

Jim was an avid golfer and loved to hit the links wherever he traveled, Rob adds.

In addition to Rob and Sue, Jim is survived by daughters Carilyn Lineback and Tina Morris, and five grandchildren.

Rob says his father, a 1970 Washington State University graduate, was a lifelong WSU Cougar and set up the James Elmer Scholarship in Construction Management Fund at the university’s Voiland College of Engineering and Architecture.

Rob says a celebration of his father’s life will be held at the JW Elmer Construction office at 3 p.m., May 9.