SAN MARCOS -- James "Jim" Bray, who spent 19 years taking the audio-visual section of the Escondido Public Library from nothing to one of the best in the West, died Thursday from liver disease and cancer. He was 63.

"The reason why we have such a great video library program is because of Jim Bray," said Escondido Mayor Lori Pfeiler. "He was so knowledgeable that he could pick a real variety of movies. He has left behind a great legacy and set a high standard in this town."

Bray, who was hired in 1980 to manage the library's video rental department, built the collection from 52 movies to 31,000 when he retired in 1999.

"It's the largest library video collection west of the Rockies," Bray was quoted as saying in a 1998 newspaper article. Under Bray's control, the collection included 4,000 feature films, 1,800 travel videos, 1,800 fine arts videos and large numbers of how-to, PBS, BBC and classic television videos.

"I think people were astonished at the breadth of the collection," said Jo Ann Greenberg, a deputy city librarian who worked with Bray for 19 years. "He really took a risk because he didn't want to be in competition with Blockbuster. He wanted to expand it more so that people could have opera and educational films and the movie classics."

Greenberg added that the affable Bray had a large fan club.

"People got very interested in his stories and would come in just to see him," Greenberg said, remembering the disappointed faces when Bray was not at the desk. "He always seemed to know what to say to people to make them feel better."

Born in Davenport, Iowa, and raised in Ozark, Ark., Bray didn't start out as a great lover of books, his wife, Carol said Saturday. He dropped out of high school and entered the U.S. Marine Corps in 1958, where he ended up guarding the U.S. Embassy in Damascus, Syria.

While there, he met Carol, a State Department employee, as well as a Palestinian poet named Nasri Jouzi, Carol Bray said Saturday. Jouzi had been jailed and tortured for not following the party line at the time, but still impressed in the couple the importance of education and free thinking, she added.

"Mr. Jouzi told him, 'Whatever they do to me, they can't take away the knowledge in my head,'" Carol said. "That made a huge impression on Jim. He realized he really wanted to go to college and be part of that world."

When Bray left the Marine Corps in 1962, he went back to school, receiving his bachelor's degree from San Francisco State University and a master's degree in library science from San Jose State University in 1974.

After school, he began working as a children's librarian in Rochester, Minn., where he also had his own television program and developed his hobby of puppetry.

"He used to bring his puppets out to the city parks and nursing homes on the weekends," his wife said. "He was really into puppetry for years."

During the past decade, Bray said her inventive husband developed a different act he would take to local schools. Being an avid fan of the Middle East, he would cover his blond hair up with a turban, don Arab clothing, and stick a black mustache to his upper lip.

"He loved to go to the elementary schools and tell the kids about life in the Arab world," she said. "Especially in Oceanside, a lot of these kids had parents over there serving in the military. This was a way he could help them understand what it was like there."

Jim Bray is survived by his wife of 41 years, two sons, Nicolas and Jeremy, and two grandsons.

In lieu of flowers, the family asked donations be sent to the Friends of the Escondido Public Library, 239 S. Kalmia St., Escondido, CA 92025 or by calling (760) 839-4832.

Contact staff writer Erin Massey at (760) 740-5416 or emassey@nctimes.com.