James Surface received his A.B. in 1942 and his M.A. in 1948, both from the University of Kansas, his studies interrupted by service in the U.S. Marine Corps during World War II. He received his M.B.A. in 1950 and his D.C.S. in 1956, both from the Harvard Business School. He taught at Harvard for eight years.

Surface joined the faculty at the University of Kansas in 1957 as a Professor of Business Administration and as the Dean of the Business School. In 1962 he was also named Vice Chancellor, Dean of Facilities, and Provost. He retired from KU in 1970 to found the Graduate School of Management at Vanderbilt University.

At Vanderbilt, Surface was promoted to executive vice chancellor in 1972 and then provost and executive vice president in 1975. In 1978 he returned to teaching full-time before retiring from Vanderbilt in 1986.

James R. Surface married Mary, with whom he had 5 children: Mary Lu, Richard, Daniel, John, and Tom. After his first wife died in 1995, Surface married Fifi, who passed away in 2006. James Surface died August 1, 2013.

[Information retrieved from KU University Archives morgue files and Vanderbilt University, "Surface, Original Faculty Member of Owen Graduate School of Management, Dies," August 2, 2013, available online at https://news.vanderbilt.edu/2013/08/02/james-surface-dies/.]