Moved as a child with parents from Vancouver, British Columbia to Chicago becoming a US citizen. Raised in Chicago and went to college at University of Illinois and University of Chicago. Married and had 2 daughters in Joliet, IL. Then moved to Birmingham, MI in 1952 to begin work for Ford Motor Co. He moved to Sydney, Australia in the summer of 1968 to work as Managing Director of Borg-Warner Australia and spent 6 years livng and working there. He and Mary Alice moved to Bloomfield Hills, Michigan in 1974 where John was President of Borg and Beck in Detroit until 1981 when, upon retirement, they moved to the Landings in the Savannah, GA area in 1981. He served on the Board of Trustees of The Greenbriar Children's Center. He loved golf and trains and was an avid student of the Civil War.