St. John's College tutor emeritus James M. Tolbert was a native of Columbus, Georgia, who held undergraduate and master's degrees from Emory University and a doctorate in English from the University of Texas. During World War II, he served in counterintelligence in the Philippines and afterwards in Japan, and also in security at the Manhattan Project in Los Alamos, New Mexico. He taught at and chaired the English Department in Florence, Alabama, at what is now the University of North Alabama before joining the St. John's faculty in Annapolis, Maryland, in 1953. He was initially both a tutor and director of admissions before becoming a full-time tutor from 1972 until his retirement in 1979; he died in 1993. He was a beloved and esteemed figure on campus, a courtly and gentle Southerner who shepherded a generation of students into St. John's.