James W. Cobb

I was born in 1933 in High Point, NC, where I remained in residence through high school.  In 1949 I entered Iowa State College, located in Ames, Iowa.  In 1950 I pledged to Kappa Alpha Psi at the Omega chapter at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa.  I graduated from Iowa State in 1955 with a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering.  I came to the New York City area after spending two years in the U. S. Army in Korea, as a field artillery battalion motor officer.  I ran a vehicle repair facility for my battalion.

In 1957, I met Mary Ethel Lane, a physician practicing in Tarrytown, NY.  We were married in 1959.  We have three children:

Lane Leslie Cobb, an interfaith minister and social activist

Keith Hamilton Cobb, an actor and playwright

Pamela Griffin Cobb Pettis, an obstetrician/gynecologist

Fifty years ago, in 1972, I founded a company for the design and construction of special or unique manufacturing machinery.  The name of the company was Pilot Machine Designers.  In 1999 I sold the company and retired.  While active in engineering and machine design, I created, among many other machines, two that produced commonly used products that many are familiar with, paper sticks for lollypops and disposable paper chefs’ hats.

I am particularly interested in scholastic achievement in young people and enjoy community volunteer activity in that area. I  have served my community as:

• Scholarship Committee chair, now emeritus, for the New Rochelle/White Plains Alumni Chapter of Kappa Alpha                 Psi Fraternity  
• Scholarship Committee chair for the Westchester Black Scholars Community Partnership
• Member of the Westchester Community College Foundation Board
• Volunteer docent at the Maritime Center and Aquarium at Norwalk, CT
• Volunteer docent at the Hudson River Museum in Yonkers, NY
• Science judge for the NAACP ACT-SO regional scholastic competition

I have been an active member of the Community Unitarian Universalist Congregation at White Plains, NY since 1965.

I love science and contemplating our place in the universe. I don’t think that I am active enough or knowledgeable enough in astronomy to call myself an astronomer but I have been a member of the Westchester Amateur Astronomers for many years.  At 89 and with some mobility problems I am less active but I still think and read about the universe and stars a lot.

I also love water and snow; consequently, when active, I spent as much time as possible sailing in summer and skiing in winter.