[3] He began teaching real estate at the University of Wisconsin in 1964 and continued until his death in 1988 at the age of 54, at which time he was chair of the department.
Graaskamp, in almost every school year, hired students to live with him at his home on Breese Terrace, the university's football stadium, to assist with his personal care and travel with him on trips, including Alaska, Hawaii and Europe.
[4] He thought that commercial properties offering higher tax yields and lower service demands created unnecessary barriers to building housing for the less well-off.
In the 1970s, he began to advocate for an ethic in real estate proceedings, thinking that development has nearly irreversible impacts on the land.
In 2004, James Graaskamp was one of ten "real estate legends" profiled in a book published by ULI, Leadership Legacies.