John F. Knutson

Memories of John F. Knutson – (DOB: 08/31/1940 – DOD: 12/26/2025)

“Knutes” and I tracked each other’s lives closely. This is a summary of what I wrote in August 1990 at the time of John’s 50th birthday.

Knutes was a special friend of mine, fellow residents in Timothy Dwight College.

It was John who encouraged me one fall day early in our sophomore year to join him for an Apollo Glee Club (AGC) rehearsal. My taking him up on this suggestion opened up a whole new world for me – a Yale of singing: AGC, Battell Choir and eventually the Yale Glee Club. A lot of who I am today comes from this gift that John’s encouragement gave me… August 1990

A more complete story of John is large in scope… the prep school personality from the Millbrook School, a tenor in The Duke’s Men, member of Berzelius, Tau Beta Pi honors.

Following Yale, John got a degree from Stanford (’64). He then joined the Peace Corps and spent his 2 years in Bolivia. That time found John installing the first computer at the University of La Paz. He also traveled the countryside with a doctor, testing for TB.

Following these experiences, John got his MBA from Harvard and in the meantime met his future wife (Judy Spicer). John and Judy were married in December 1968. John had already been hired by Chrysler Corp in Detroit. What followed was a career with
Chrysler (28 years in Detroit and 11 years in Mexico City).

Following retirement in 2001, they moved to Boston and enveloped themselves in opportunities that the city offered. John was a consultant for the Executive Service Corps. He helped raise funds for the Latin American Scholarship Program of American Universities. He was a Board member of Wheelock College for 10 years, participating in its merger with Boston University.

John’s passion in life was singing. He loved singing well beyond our years at Yale… church choirs wherever they lived. In Boston, he had a keen interest in the Saengerfest Men’s Chorus. Judy brought her voice [along with Pam (Griff) Resor, Brenda (Boyd) Murray and my wife Joanne] into the alto section of the Yale Alumni Chorus on numerous international singing tours in the 2000s.

John was diagnosed with Lewy Body Dementia with Parkinsonism years before his death. Those of us who counted John as a friend have lost a pillar in our lives.

“But time and change shall naught avail to break the friendships formed at Yale.”

 
— John Gerlach