James Kriley, Former UM Dean, Found Dead in Flathead Lake

By Matthew Frank, 8-20-08

James D. Kriley, a former dean of the University of Montana’s School of Fine Arts and the former artistic director of the Montana Repertory Theatre, died Tuesday, his body found in Flathead Lake after a couple reported that a sailboat drifted up to their dock with no one on it.

UM President George Dennison issued a statement Tuesday informing the community of Kriley’s death, the AP reports.

“He was really a force for the arts,” Dennison said. “He was a campus citizen of the first order. ... It is a big loss for the university.”

The Missoulian’s Joe Nickell gathered local reaction.

“He was a great director of theatre, and a great builder,” said [current Montana Rep director Greg] Johnson, who was hand-picked and recruited to join the UM faculty in 1990 by Kriley. “He made Montana Rep into a professional touring company and set us on the path we follow today. He was always ahead of the curve; he had a knack for seeing what was needed, and then pursuing that and creating that with great energy.”

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The 65-year-old Kriley, who wasn’t wearing a life jacket, is the second UM professor to die in Big Arm Bay this year. In January, Henry “Hank” Harrington, former chairman of UM’s Department of English, died of hypothermia along with his wife Nancy after their canoe apparently capsized in the then-icy waters of Flathead.