[UPDATED 2016-11-04 @ 1358 UTC] ARRL President Emeritus Jim Haynie, W5JBP, of Dallas, Texas, died on November 1. He was 73. His death followed a period of ill health. Haynie was elected as the 13th President of ARRL on January 21, 2000, succeeding Rod Stafford, W6ROD (ex-KB6ZV).

“Jim was a remarkable individual who made a huge personal commitment to Amateur Radio and the ARRL,” said ARRL President Rick Roderick, K5UR. “He had a great sense of humor that was often quite helpful as we addressed some serious matters when Jim was President. His vision guided us to try new things that are still helping Amateur Radio and the League to this day.”

A radio amateur for more than 40 years, Haynie was twice re-elected by the ARRL Board to the ARRL’s top volunteer office, serving until January 2006, when Joel Harrison, W5ZN, succeeded him. Prior to assuming the ARRL presidency, Haynie was ARRL West Gulf Division Director during two different periods — from 1987 until 1990 and from 1997 until 2000, and an ARRL Vice President from 1990 until 1992.

During his 6 years as president, Haynie focused on promoting Amateur Radio in the classroom, and his ARRL Amateur Radio Education Project — which he dubbed the “Big Project” — was an initiative to offer a turnkey Amateur Radio curriculum as well as radio equipment to schools. His project eventually grew into the ARRL Education & Technology Program (ETP).

A gregarious and accessible individual, Haynie was also skilled at promoting Amateur Radio as often as he could, frequently on the road to attend as many ham radio gatherings as he could squeeze into his schedule, including Dayton Hamvention each spring. Once, he was also a guest of Art Bell, W6OBB, on his Coast to Coast AM overnight radio talk show.

On several occasions, Haynie traveled to Washington, DC, to meet with FCC and other government officials and with lawmakers on Capitol Hill to promote Amateur Radio issues and to communicate concerns. Those included the League’s position on deed restrictions or CC&Rs. During his tenure, the Amateur Radio Spectrum Protection Act and the Amateur Radio Emergency Communications Consistency Act — an early bill to address the CC&R issue — were introduced in Congress. In 2003, Haynie testified on Capitol Hill on behalf of the Spectrum Protection Act.

Not long after he became president, Haynie arranged for the gravely injured 13-year-old Willem van Tuijl — shot by pirates while cruising in the South Pacific with his parents Jacco, KH2TD, Jannie, KH2TE, van Tuijl — get medical treatment in the US.

After the 9/11 terror attacks, Haynie rallied radio amateurs to assist, and he praised the actions of Amateur Radio volunteers who turned out in New York City and Washington, DC. “Radio amateurs in New York City and elsewhere around the country are doing everything they can to support the authorities in locating and assisting victims,” he said in the immediate aftermath of the attacks.

A few years later, Haynie provided written testimony on Amateur Radio’s response in the Hurricane Katrina disaster to the US House Government Reform Committee.

In 2007, after he had left the presidency, Dayton Hamvention® named Haynie as its Amateur of the Year. Hamvention said Haynie’s League leadership “helped define Amateur Radio’s role in emergency communication.”

Among other highlights of Haynie’s tenure as the League’s president was the signing of a Statement of Affiliation between the Department of Homeland Security in 2003, which made ARRL a Citizen Corps affiliate.

The following year, he headed an ARRL delegation to the White House to discuss concerns about broadband over power line technology, meeting with an official of the Office of Science and Technology Policy.

In 2013, the ARRL West Gulf Division honored Haynie with a Lifetime Achievement Award.

Services will be held Friday, November 4, at 3 PM at the Abbey Chapel at Restland Funeral Home, 13005 Greenville Avenue, Dallas, with visitation at 2 PM.