James S. Gross, 57, of Kiel, passed away at his home from natural causes on Friday, September 25, 2026. He was born January 31, 1969, in Chilton, to Doris (Lechler) Gross and the late Steven Gross. He graduated from Kiel High School in 1987. On June 16, 2007, he married the former Melanie Schorer at her parent’s home in Sheboygan Falls. Jim worked on the Richard Buchholz farm during high school. After graduation, he was employed at Bremer Manufacturing before moving to Sargento for 37 years, retiring as a supervisor in April of 2025.

Jim valued time spent with his family. He enjoyed watching his son, Ben’s baseball games, always having a dog with him (Patches, Lacey and June) and going to Duvall’s Resort in Iron Mountain Michigan for week long family fishing trips. He was also an outdoorsman who enjoyed hunting, especially bowhunting and fishing, going to his Uncle Jerry’s trailer with his dad, cousins and friends and planting his fruit trees and watching the deer snack on them. One of his favorite moments was an elk hunting trip to Grand Junction, CO with his family and hunting friends.

In addition to his mother and wife, he is survived by his son, Ben, Kiel; Patty (Tim) Smith, Kiel and Monica Schmitz, Kiel; father-in-law and mother-in-law, Wayne and Kay Schorer; brother-in-law, Mark (Angie) Schorer and sister-in-law, Tonya (Kevin) Kolb. He is further survived by nieces, nephews, other relatives and friends.

He was preceded in death by his father.

A funeral service will be held for Jim on Thursday, October 1, 2026 at 4:30 p.m. at Meiselwitz-Vollstedt-DeTroye Funeral Home (815 6th Street, Kiel). Visitation will be held on Thursday, at the funeral home, from 2:00 p.m. until 4:15 p.m. when brief family rites will be held. Interment will follow at Eaton Union Cemetery. Please visit www.meiselwitzfh.com to send online condolences.

In lieu of flowers, a memorial fund has been established in Jim’s name.

The family would like to extend a special thank you to the Sheboygan County Sheriff’s Department, the Elkhart Lake Police Department, the Kiel Ambulance and Sheboygan County Medical Examiner’s Office.