Painter, printmaker, and sculptor James (Jim) Spitzer was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 1936. He studied at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, earning BS, MA, and MFA degrees under the tutelage of Alfred Sessler, Dean Meeker and Warrington Colescott, among others. Spitzer taught at Colleges and Universities in New York, Arizona and Wisconsin. After settling in Sonoma County, California, in the 1970s, he taught for a time at Sonoma State University, before dedicating his full time to art.

Spitzer exhibited extensively, and had his own solo shows at Carus gallery in New York City, New York University, Cornell College, Ithaca University, University of North Carolina, Southern Florida University, and Sonoma State University.

In the later half of his life James Spitzer focused his attention on fusing his woodcut materials into murals, as well as painting in acrylics. Throughout his career his subjects were abstracted land- and cityscapes, often rolling hills of California and Wisconsin seen through a brightly-hued lens, as well as humorous, caricatured portraits and scenes of daily life.

Jim Spitzer died on December 4, 2018 in Santa Rosa, California.