Fiebig was most recently the sales manager of Iowa’s Josephs Jewelers

Longtime jeweler and colored gemstone advocate James Fiebig, known as Jim to his friends, died on Oct. 22. He was 60, and the cause was cancer.

He began his career in the jewelry business in high school, working after school at the family business, Michigan’s Fiebig Jewelers. When his parents, Art and Ila Fiebig, purchased a second store in 1979, he left a career in the music business to manage the store, which was located in Sturgis, Mich.

He became a goldsmith and took classes at the Gemological Institute of America.

In 2005, Fiebig and his wife, JoAnn, sold Fiebig Jewelers and Fiebig became an ambassador of colored gemstones, running trips for jewelry professionals to Madagascar to see colored gemstones there. Fiebig wrote extensively about colored gemstone marketing.

In 2011, he joined Josephs Jewelers in West Des Moines, Iowa, as sales manager. He retired in December 2015 when he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.

He is survived by his wife, JoAnn; his children, Chad and Jared; his mother, Ila Fiebig; and his grandchildren, Alaina and James Arthur.

Friends have established a scholarship in his honor.

Contributions can be sent to:

James A. Fiebig Music & Arts Award Fund
c/o Hillsdale County Community Foundation
2 South Howell St.
P.O. Box 276
Hillsdale, Mich. 49242

JCK