Born in the early thirties, raised in Philadelphia, Pa, Friendship, NY, and Greece. He has one living sister, Renee Vigliotti and, another beloved sister, Mary Margaret Doerler, is deceased. His two brothers, Joseph Monroe and John Matthews live in Michigan and Virginia, respectively.
His father was Lloyd Irvin Monroe, an Engineer who built roads and bridges all over the world and knew the likes of the Shah of Iran and other heinous dictators. Both James I. and his father, Lloyd, flew private aircraft. Lloyd died at 81 years old, moments after landing his Piper Cherokee in Ogdensburg, NY.
James I. Monroe joined the Army in 1950 and became a Chinese codebreaker in Monterey, California during the Korean War. He retired as a Physics professor from SUNY Canton in 1994 after writing and publishing a textbook for college physical science.
He was one of the first persons in Canton to protest the Vietnam War and he paid a political price for that as well as other causes he promoted. The lawsuit that changed St. Lawrence County from a Board of Supervisors to a Board of Legislators bears his name as plaintiff. This lawsuit was based on one person, one vote. The previous ‘Board of Supervisors’ system allowed a town of twenty five people (Clare) to have the same weight in county government as the entire City of Ogdensburg.
James wrote two major treatises on renewable energy and chaired both the Northern New York Power Authority and the ten year fight for municipal power in Northern New York named Alliance for Municipal Power (AMP). He guided AMP through the contracts with 21 towns and villages and three lawsuits against Niagara Mohawk and PASNY. Governor David Patterson then created NNY Power Authority and appointed him Chairperson.
He has authored over 20 works of short fiction.