GenPrime exec Jim E. Fleming dies

Jim E. Fleming, chief technology officer for Spokane biotech firm GenPrime, died Tuesday of a heart attack, company officials said.

Fleming was coming to work and collapsed in an elevator. He was taken to a hospital but could not be resuscitated.

He was 62.

Fleming was one of the founders of GenPrime, which was launched in 1997. Using his background as a biology professor at Eastern Washington University, Fleming helped develop GenPrime products that measured yeast fermentation and the presence of bacteria in samples.

Staff report