- Date Of Birth: December 23, 1932
- Date Of Death: July 15, 2017
- State: Maryland
James Albert Isreal, son of the late Frank and Violet Dobbs Isreal, was born December 23, 1932, as the 11th of 12 siblings. He transitioned peacefully from this life on July 15, 2017, at the Community Living Center of the Veteran Affairs Hospital in Washington, DC. He proudly represented his family’s deep roots cultivated in the Lincoln Park neighborhood of Rockville, Maryland, where he was part of a close, supportive and loving community for the majority of his life.
Mr. Isreal attended Carver High School, and entered the United States Air Force as a youngster. He credits the military for disciplining him and teaching him to become a man. Basic training was at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas. He served in the Korean War, and completed tours in France, Northern Africa, and was stationed in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, where he met and married his first wife, Corrie, and began a family which produced two daughters, Janice and Corrietta. He exited military service in Amarillo, Texas.
After serving in the military, James worked for 10 years at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, Maryland, as an animal caretaker, first for a medical research team working on President Kennedy’s space program, and later with doctors in the field of cancer research. He also worked as a Master Barber on nights and weekends until opening his own barber shop in the 1970s. During the 1990s, James owned and managed three barber and beauty salons in Montgomery County, located in Twinbrook, Gaithersburg and Germantown.
In his mid-40s, Mr. Isreal’s personal growth led him to join the Seventh-Day Adventist Church, and he soon married second wife, Barbara. His association with the Adventists ended at the dissolution of this brief marriage, but their instructions on clean living, nutrition, and family values remained lifestyle practices he would adopt for the remainder of his life.
As an entrepreneur, Mr. Isreal worked 7 days a week, 10 to 15 hours a day, and thrived in the day-to-day intricacies of business ownership. He diligently trained new barbers and operated clean, well-respected, family-friendly barber shop environments.
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