James Leslie Siebach passed away on June 14, 2019, after a short, yet characteristically fierce, battle with cancer. He was born to Ralph Ernest Siebach and Muriel Audrey Percy Young on March 22, 1957 – although he claimed to have been born on March 21, coincidentally Johann Sebastian Bach's birthday. He spent much of his childhood in Ford City and Crooked Creek, PA, surrounded by forests and farms. While his family later moved to Huntsville, AL, and Wichita Falls, TX, he was deeply connected to Pennsylvania and New York, finding in what he often described as an idyllic childhood the root of his lifelong passion for farming and tractors. He served an LDS mission in Pusan, South Korea. Jim attended Brigham Young University, where he studied philosophy and classics. He received his Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of Texas at Austin, writing on Augustine and Plato. He was a professor of philosophy at BYU, where he opened up the world of ancient and medieval philosophy and theology to generations of students, many of whom became close friends (and many of whom were pressed into labor in his garden). His lectures were legendary – as was his exactitude in grading. His true vocation was as a teacher and a mentor, whether in the classroom, in Sunday School, at a barbeque grill, or in his garden and orchard. After his retirement from BYU, he began a second career as a consultant at InsideSales, taking his erudition into the board room and onto the golf course with his numerous friends. Jim loved and ceaselessly sought wisdom, driven by an intense desire for the beautiful and the good, whether it was found in the thousands of volumes on his bookshelves, in the counterpoint of a cantata, the chiaroscuro of a Caravaggio, or the sublimity of a perfectly ripe peach on an August afternoon. His humor was sly and erudite, glorying in puns both obscure and ridiculous. His passion for music ran from polyphony to jazz and big band to Bob Dylan – but above all, he worshiped Bach. He combined his love of music with his love of travel, heading to Boston and Germany for music festivals and to England for evensong and literature, while traveling often to Italy for art and architecture. He married Julie Rae Smith in the Manti, UT Temple on April 4, 1980. They had five children: Sarah, Anna (Erik Larsen), Soren, Kirsten (Kelsey Oakes), and Sophie (Andrew Glover). They later divorced. He loved his family deeply and complexly, and as in all other areas of his life, demonstrated that love in his own way. He always encouraged his children to pursue education: academic, horticultural, and musical. He was fiercely proud of his children's accomplishments, bragging about them to friends and family (though his children would note that he was occasionally prone to embellishment). He deeply valued his heritage and felt an intense connection to both his English and his German relatives and forebearers. He was a friend and mentor to many of his nephews and nieces, and in recent years grew close to many of his cousins and their children. Through all aspects of his life – familial, professional, and spiritual – Jim sought to understand and exemplify love and service. He explored it in his classes at BYU and taught it in word and deed as a bishop, Sunday School and Priesthood teacher, and devoted home teacher and friend. The objects of this love were myriad, but above all, he sought to know the love of his Savior. He is preceded in death by his beloved father, and by his brothers Christopher and Michael. He is survived by his five children, his mother, his siblings Jeffrey (Kathy), Linda Hartung (Richard), Jennifer Haight (Gordon), and Benjamin (Natasha), and numerous nieces, nephews, students, and friends. The family would particularly like to thank Sam Siebach, Linda Hartung, and Sandra Mangum for their friendship and care of Jim, especially during the last year of his life. A visitation will be held Monday, June 17, 6 – 8, at the Walker Sanderson Funeral Home (646 E. 800 N., Orem). The Memorial Service will be held on Tuesday, June 18, 6.30, at the Sharon Stake Center (545 S. 800 E., Orem), with visitation at 5:30 p.m.. Condolences may be offered and memories shared online at www.walkersanderson.com .