James Ream received his bachelor in Architecture from Cornell University; he continued his studies at the Pratt Institute in New York and in Italy at the University of Rome. He began practicing as a project designer for Eero Saarinen in 1957 in Michigan and then practiced in Colorado from 1959 until 1965. Ream came to San Francisco in 1966, initially serving as Chief of Design for John Carl Warnecke & Associates and then opening his own firm in 1969. His firm has completed a variety of industrial, transportation, religious, commercial, civic, and residential comissions.