Jim Loomis, Bottomline Technologies co-founder, dies at 75

James “Jim” Loomis, co-founder of Portsmouth-based Bottomline Technologies, passed away on Sept. 6 in his hometown of Dover after a period of declining health. He was 75.

After its creation in 1989 with business partner Daniel McGurl, Bottomline became a worldwide leader in automated business payments and cash management.

This magazine cover photo from August 1991 shows Bottomline Technologies co-founders Jim Loomis, right, and Dan McGurl.

The idea behind the business was to use advancing technologies to replace precut paper checks with an electronic automated system. As a leading technology company over the years, Bottomline did business with major corporations, insurers, law firms and banks, employing up to 2,000 people worldwide and occupying a 100,000-square-foot headquarters at the Pease International Tradeport in Portsmouth.

A decade after its founding, Loomis, as vice president and chief financial officer, helped guide the company to become publicly traded on the NASDAQ Exchange. It opened at $19 a share.

By the time the company was sold to a private equity firm in 2022 for $2.6 billion, the company had $795 million in assets – $118 million in cash – and $379 million in liabilities, leaving stockholders with $417 million in equity, according to the final public statement a few months before the company went private.

“Jim was a great partner, and was key in developing the business,” said McGurl, who served as Bottomline’s CEO, noting that Loomis’s role in taking the start-up company public “was really quite an accomplishment.”

Loomis stepped down as vice president and CFO in 2000, but he continued serving on the company’s board of directors until 2016.

McGurl, who was CEO for the company’s first 13 years then its board chairman until 2007, also left the board in 2016 in what was described by the company at the time as a “board refresh.”

Post COVID, the private equity firm that purchased Bottomline, Thoma Bravo, moved the company from its 100,000 square foot corporate headquarters on Corporate Drive at the Tradeport to about 12,000 square feet nearby in an office suite at 100 International Drive.

Loomis, who grew up in Westwood, Mass., initially attended RPI in Troy, N.Y., then transferred to Babson College, where he earned both his bachelor’s degree in business and his MBA by 1974.

He worked initially for the Nashua Corporation, a New Hampshire-based manufacturer of specialty papers, labels and imaging supplies.

Loomis was committed to philanthropy and community service, having served on the board of the Nashua Boys and Girls Club and supporting United Way initiatives through his work at Nashua Corporation.

Following his youngest son’s spinal cord injury, Loomis became an ardent supporter of Northeast Passage, a program of the University of New Hampshire specializing in adaptive sports and recreational therapy.

In 2011, he and his wife Anne received the UNH Foundation’s Hubbard Family Award for Service to Philanthropy in recognition of their dedication.

His involvement with Northeast Passage went far beyond financial contributions, according to his family. He became the equipment manager for the Northeast Passage Wildcats Wheelchair Rugby team, repairing, maintaining and transporting equipment, mentoring staff, traveling with the team and supporting the athletes — including his son — at practices and tournaments.

“The magnitude of Jim’s generosity was remarkable,” said Jill Gravink, founder and executive director of Northeast Passage. “He would see something we needed and act, like the time he showed up at our office with a cargo van to haul our adapted sports equipment. He said, ‘This followed me home. Do you want to keep it?’ This is one of many amazing stories. He was truly one of the good guys.”

Northeast Passage is among the charitable organizations where donations in Loomis’ memory can be made.

A private memorial service for Loomis is scheduled for a later date.