In Memoriam: Jim Allen

By Jon Gruebele, May 2026

The participants of Chicago Mensa's Zoom Lunch deeply regret to report that long-time member Jim Allen passed away. He was a fixture at this event that started at restaurants back in the 1960s. During COVID, the weekly event migrated to Zoom and continues today.

Jim was a voracious reader and would occasionally find a word he didn't know. He'd look it up and bring it to the group for us to try and define. We'd usually figure it out with Jim's answers to our yes/no questions, but sometimes it was a struggle. Here's an example: psychopomp. If that's new to you, it means a guide of souls to the place of the dead. That one took a while.

Jim was a life-long resident of Oak Park and worked as a court reporter. Lately, he volunteered at a nearby thrift store. He loved to eat M&M'S® while stressing over our CultureQuest® team's trivia answers.

It's always sad when we lose a member of our Mensa family. Jim will be missed. We can only hope his psychopomp guided his soul to a wonderful place.