JOHN ROBERT MUSGRAVE
John Robert Musgrave lived his life to the fullest and his absence will be felt by many. He passed away on October 17 in Seattle after complications from lung cancer. He will be sorely missed for his wise counsel, his wonderful sense of humor, and of course his excellent cooking.
The devoted family man, mentor, and friend eclipsed the description "renaissance man" as evidenced by success in his careers and many hobbies. Anything worth doing, he believed, was worth putting in your all.
John was born in Kansas City, Kansas on January 23, 1934 and grew up in Concordia, Missouri as a Southern Baptist Minister's son. He was student body president, basketball star, homecoming king, and his beautifully deep voice resonated in multiple singing groups. John graduated at the top of his class from the University of Missouri Journalism School. His first job was as a newspaper reporter in Blytheville, Arkansas where he found himself in the thick of the Little Rock segregation era.
His talents at basketball earned him a spot on the Boeing semi-pro team in Wichita, KS, and a job as a reporter on the company paper launched his career into marketing. Boeing ultimately sent John to Seattle where he published the company-wide Boeing newspaper and discovered his little piece of heaven on earth. After several years, Boeing transferred him to head up the Marketing Department of the Vertol division in Philadelphia where he traveled the world promoting their helicopters.
In 1971, he left Boeing to work for the Auerbach Corporation, one of the world's first computer companies, in Philadelphia. In late 1973, he was approached by an executive search firm to consider going to Spokane, Washington to help the floundering World's Fair. Seeing it as an incredible challenge and also a way to return to his beloved Washington, he took the job and moved his family to Spokane. His role as Vice President of Marketing in charge of public and press relations, publicity and ticketing helped Expo 74 open on schedule and its success transformed the city.
In 1975, he started his own public relations firm, JRM & Associates, Inc., where he was involved in events such as managing trade shows and major events such as the World Swimming Championships in Guayaquil, Ecuador. His company also started Ticketmaster in the Seattle area. One of the responsibilities he took on during that time was as Vice President of Marketing for the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, NY where he was responsible for marketing, publicity, public relations and all revenue, including licensed products, ticketing and television rights. It was an experience of a lifetime.
In the early 1980s, John moved back to Seattle and was very active in the West Seattle community. He served as President of the West Seattle Chamber and as a member of the noise reduction committee for the 3rd runway at SeaTac Airport, the city-wide Alaskan Way Viaduct Committee, and the transportation committee, which helped plan the high level bridge, the Spokane street viaduct expansion, and the low level bridge replacement He helped start Greater Harbor 2000, a community based organization that created a new corridor plan for the Alki, Harbor Avenue, Spokane Street corridor, and served on the oversight committee that worked on plans for Pier 1/Pier 2, including the experimental water taxi.
His professional life for the last 25 years included many facets of the real estate world, including selling residential real estate, brokering the West Seattle office of Coldwell Banker, and for the last 15 years as Executive Business Consultant for Coldwell Banker Corporate with responsibilities for all of the affiliate offices in Washington State, Alaska and Portland, OR.
While excelling in his professional life, John also spent his time on his many hobbies. His passions included wine collecting, mushroom picking, traveling, hiking, go-carting, fishing, and, most importantly, cooking. He spent much time racing and fixing cars with his grandson, Conor.
We all hope we can live up to John's decency, honesty and love of living. He was a tall, proud "John Wayne" kind of man who has touched so many lives.
John is survived by his wife of 29 years, Colleen; five daughters: Mary Rosner (Mike), Jeanine Hopping (Mack), Jacque Musgrave, Alicia Thompson (Ken) and Leah Applewhite; 12 grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren. He also leaves behind the mother of his children, Jan Musgrave Zwetsch (Gil), who has been a great supporter of John throughout their lives, his brother Jim (Jan), and his sisters Delcie Wakefield (Bill) and Ruth Smith, as well as numerous nieces and nephews and friends.
A celebration of his life will be held from 1-4pm, Nov. 8 at Hotel Andra, 2000 Fourth Ave, Seattle. In lieu of flowers, donations are being accepted to honor him at the Statue of Liberty Plaza at Alki Beach and to support the Plaza maintenance fund. More info at John's blog http://mussmusings.blogspot.com.
Published October 29, 2008 in the West Seattle Herald.
