John Macmeeken

John Peebles Macmeeken Died peacefully at home in Oakland, California on October 10, 2011, after a long illness. He was 87 years old. John was born August 15, 1924 in Glen Ridge, New Jersey, and grew up in Easton, Pennsylvania and Berkeley, California. John attended the Kent School, the University of California Berkeley and after service in the Army during World War II, received his law degree from Harvard Law School. In 1948 he went to work at Chickering & Gregory in San Francisco where he made partner in 1960. He retired from the firm of Pettit & Martin in 1993 after 45 years of litigation practice. In 1978, John visited China, the first of many trips that lead to an enduring partnership of rebuilding, education and cultural exchange. He co-founded the Foundation for Books for China in 1980 to replenish libraries lost during the cultural revolution. As a member of the SOAR Foundation, he helped provide scholarships to rural Chinese youth. He married Mary Swanberg in 1949. The couple raised three children. For over fifty years, John was active in the First Congregational Church of Berkeley and the Outlook Club of California, California's oldest discussion club. After his retirement, he volunteered as a Natural Science Docent at the Oakland Museum of California. John is survived by Mary, his wife of sixty-one years, their three children, the Rev. Carol Luther of San Anselmo, John West Macmeeken of Oakland, and Susan Gwen Macmeeken of Hamilton, Montana, two sons-in-law, Jay William Luther, and Edward Hayes, and his most beloved granddaughter, Jennifer Nicole Luther of San Diego. Services will be private. Memorial contributions may be sent to the First Congregational Church of Berkeley.