James S. Bonnet, 78

Dr. James S. Bonnet, 78, passed away in Kalispell on May 6, 2025, after a long battle with cancer.

He was born Dec. 19, 1946, to Stewart and Marvene Bonnet in Lafayette, Louisiana, where his parents served on the faculty of the University of Louisiana. Jim and his older sister, Carol Ann, had a delightful childhood on the bayou, where his love of music and culture, Cajun cooking and adventure began.

Jim's interest in medicine also began at an early age. Through high school, he worked as a lab aide in a medical clinic. Later, as a graduate of the University of Louisiana, he received a full scholarship to the Tulane School of Medicine. He graduated in 1971, followed by a five-year surgical residency at the University of Southern California.

After completing a fellowship in peripheral vascular surgery at the University of Sydney, Australia, in 1978, he joined medical missions in need of a surgeon in Nepal, India, Afghanistan and Pakistan.

After three years abroad, Jim returned to America to join Dr. Gary Robbins, with whom he had trained in Los Angeles. The two enjoyed a 30-year partnership in the practice of general and vascular surgery in Kalispell. As new surgeons joined their practice, Jim returned several times to Asia to perform surgeries and mentor local doctors.

In 2002, when Dr. Robbins wanted to do less surgery, Jim opened a new office dedicated solely to breast-related problems. Having witnessed his sister's difficulties negotiating her state's medical system for treatment of breast cancer, Jim was determined to eventually create a dedicated breast center in the Flathead Valley. He was delighted to assist in the development of Bass Breast Center, a coordinated care center for breast disease that opened on the Logan Health campus in 2009.

In 2024, Jim honored his sister with a gift to Logan Health Foundation to start Carol's Fund, an endowment providing essential resources, enhanced care and support for breast cancer patients in perpetuity.

Jim retired from surgery in 2007. In 2009, he was found to have cancer in his neck and was treated successfully at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. After 14 years of remission and rewarding retirement, another cancer was found in his throat and treated aggressively, but without success.

Jim was preceded in death by his sister, Carol Ann, in 2003, and by his parents. He is survived by his devoted partner of many years, Patrice LaTourelle.

Jim wished for his last words to "express my love and respect for the many thousands who live in my community, which is unlike any other. Montanans recognize that we live in a gifted and treasured land. I don't think I could have found a better place in which to settle, nor finer people to live among, who share traditional values.

"As I look back on many gifts of life and love from friends, families, patients and all those with whom I worked, I kneel to give thanks for all God's blessings: a vibrant and rewarding life and a career of many opportunities. The kindness shown to me through my last year with cancer was overwhelming."

Those wishing to honor Dr. Bonnet may do so with a gift to Carol's Fund at Logan Health Foundation, the Bonnet-Robbins Endowed Nursing Scholarship at FVCC, or Glacier Symphony and Chorale.

On Thursday, May 29, there will be a Gathering of Friends to Pay Tribute to Jim Bonnet: The Man, Medicine and His Music at 3 p.m. in room 139, Arts & Technology Building, Flathead Valley Community College.