James “Jim” Yaffe, June 4, in Denver. He was 90. A longtime CC English professor, Jim also wrote fiction and nonfiction chronicling the lives of American Jews in the 20th century.

He was born in Chicago on March 31, 1927, to Samuel Yaffe, a businessman, and the former Florence Scheinman, a homemaker. The family moved to New York when Jim was a young child. His writing career began early: Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine bought one of his short stories when he was just 15.

After serving in the U.S. Navy at the close of World War II and earning a bachelor’s degree summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Yale University in 1948, Jim published his first book, “Poor Cousin Evelyn,” a short-story collection.

During the 1950s and ’60s, he wrote for television anthology programs like “The United States Steel Hour” and “Alfred Hitchcock Presents” while continuing to publish fiction, both novels and short stories. In 1966, he wrote “The American Jews,” a non-fiction look at a diverse and vibrant community.

Jim started teaching at CC that same year, and would continue until 2002. Upon his retirement, generations of former students emailed tributes to his thoughtful, rigorous, and inspiring teaching
of both literature and creative writing. “A teacher who changed my life and made it unimaginably richer,” said one.

Jim’s publications include 11 novels, two short-story collections, and two works of nonfiction. His play “The Deadly Game,” based on a story by the Swiss writer Friedrich Durrenmatt, was produced on Broadway in 1960, off-Broadway in 1966, and was adapted for television in 1982. A later play, “Cliffhanger,” ran off-Broadway in 1985. Between 1988 and 1992, he published a four-book mystery series starring a detective known simply as Mom, who was originally featured in his short stories in Ellery Queen’s in the 1950s and ’60s. Mom was a Jewish mother whose crime-solving prowess relied on a bone-deep knowledge of human nature gleaned from years of coping with troublesome neighbors and relatives.

Jim is survived by his wife of 53 years, Elaine Gordon Yaffe; children Deborah, Rebecca, and Gideon; and three grandchildren.