James M. Peek was born in Unionville, MO, the only child of Everett Riley Peek and Ramah McNabb Peek. He attended public schools in Missouri and Illinois and earned a BSED from Western Illinois College in McComb Illinois. He got his MS and PhD in Chemistry at
the Ohio State University.

James worked at the Sandia National Labs and Los Alamos National Labs from 1962 through 2007. He authored or co-authored numerous peer-reviewed scientific journals and one book titled Dissociation in Heavy Particle Collisions. He was a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, a Fellow of the American Physical Society, and a member of the American Chemical Society and the American Mathematical Society. He was a visiting Faculty at the University of Colorado, Boulder, in 1971-72.

James loved exploring the New Mexico outdoors and enjoyed hiking, biking, and cross-country skiing.

He is survived by his wife of 62 years, Marilyn Peek, two daughters, Cassandra (Paige Lillard) of Seattle and Corinne (David Asa) of San Diego, and two granddaughters, Nicole Asa of Seattle and Kristin Asa of Pittsburgh.