John P. Sawyer Jr.

1944 - 2016

John Porter Sawyer, Jr, 72, of Winchester, MA, died on Thursday May 19th in San Francisco, CA. He and his wife, Susan Sawyer, were on vacation visiting their daughter and her family, when he unexpectedly fell ill with an infection of his heart. He fought bravely for six weeks, but he ultimately succumbed to the illness. John was born on March 25, 1944 in Hopkinsville, KY to Mary Jane and John Porter Sawyer, and grew up in Louisville, KY. He graduated from Atherton High School in 1962 and from Yale College in 1966. He served as a Navy pilot in the San Francisco area and Vietnam from 1966 to 1971. He then went on to law school at the University of Kentucky and then to the Harvard Graduate School of Design for a Masters in City Planning. In his early career, he served for Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis in community development and then for Mayor Biagio DiLieto in New Haven, CT. After working in the public sector, he worked as an entrepreneur in real estate development. Most recently, he was working on developing assisted living communities in Vermont. John had many passions over the course of his life. In recent years, he became an avid golfer and played in many Boston Amateur Golf Society tournaments. He especially loved spending time with his wife, his children and grandchildren, watching Boston sports, singing and traveling with the Yale Alumni Chorus and singing with his church choir. For 49 years, he was the beloved husband of Susan Dreyfus Sawyer, loving father of Dr. Sydney Kathryn Sawyer (husband Michael Scanlon) and John Jay Porter Sawyer III (wife Sharyn Sawyer). He was the cherished grandfather of Andrew, Isla and Emma Scanlon and Jameson and Liam Sawyer. He is also survived by his brothers, Chris Sawyer of Palm Bay, Fl and William Sawyer of Louisville, KY. He will be dearly missed. A memorial service will be held at The First Congregational Church at 21 Church St, Winchester, MA 01890 on Sunday June 12th at 2 p.m. In lieu of flowers, remembrances may be made to The Heifer Project International http: //www.heifer.org or The Wounded Warrior Project at https://www.woundedwarrior project.org.