James Samuel Cornell Jr, affectionately known as JJ or J-Roc was born on August 8, 1975 at Riverside General Hospital in Houston, Texas to James Cornell Sr. and the late Elouise Brown-Cornell.

He was a graduate of the McKinney Job Corp. in McKinney, TX where he also earned a certification as a Plumbers Assistant.  He returned to Houston and briefly worked in this field with the City of Houston.  He next worked alongside his then brother in law, Troy D. Amos in the appliance repair field where he became skilled at repairing appliances and electronics.   James's final role was with Quality Tubing (National Oilwell Varco NOV) where he proudly dedicated over 20 years of service in the role of Service Operator, under the leadership of Mr. Mike Simms, who James often referred to as a trusted friend and "good guy".  During this time, he developed a long standing friendship with Mr. Carl Ramirez and Mr. Charlie Lawton.

James was a gentle giant with a huge heart in the eyes of his family and friends.  He had a big social media presence and was often found "streaming" with his online family.  He was a role model and had a big influence on his nieces and nephews who frequently expressed comfort in being able to reach out and talk with him during difficult times or situations in their lives.  Likened to his mother, James was big on making sure he called or checked on his family and friends often, and he was known to and appreciated for calling his mother and father every day.  He was a fair person and a great listener, and the one person that we all could count on to be at all family functions.  He will forever be revered and highly missed in our lives.

As he has quietly moved on to his next journey, he is preceded in death by his mother Elouise Brown-Cornell, two brothers Kelvin Butler and Jamie Cornell and one sister Patrice Rambo.  He leaves to cherish his memory his father James S. Cornell Sr. (Mae), four sisters, Jacqueline Cornell, Karen Amos, Cynthia Cornell and Katrina Gardner (Eric), and a host of other dearly loved family, friends, neighbors and co-workers.