John Irl Dickerson

1941 - 2015

John Irl Dickerson passed away on October 2, 2015, at the age of 74 after a remarkable two-and-a-half year battle with neuroendocrine cancer. He died peacefully in his sleep surrounded by his family, and will be greatly missed by those who knew and admired him.
John was born on August 4, 1941, in Sterling, Colorado, to Vernon Dickerson and Adda Batten as the second of three siblings. Despite a humble upbringing, John enjoyed an active and fulfilling childhood in Denver, culminating in his graduation from South High School in 1959. He then matriculated to Colorado State University, where he was a member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity before graduating with a B.A. in Business Administration in 1963.
John married his college sweetheart Catherine Kharitonoff in December 1963. They had two children together – Sandra Lee, born in 1967 while the couple were living in Hong Kong, and Matthew John, born in 1973 after they had returned to Denver. John and Cathy divorced in 1991.
After college, John worked as an economic analyst with the Central Intelligence Agency from 1963 to 1967. He was initially stationed in Washington D.C., where he was also able to complete two years of graduate studies in Monetary Economics at George Washington University. He was then transferred to Vietnam, where he worked for two more years before resigning in protest of certain U.S. policies and actions related to the Vietnam War.
John began his investment career back in Denver in 1968 as a Portfolio Manager for Standard & Poor's Asset Management. He held senior positions at several other Denver financial firms throughout the 70s, where he earned a reputation as leading value-oriented investment manager and was a pioneer in the early stages of Denver's development as a mutual fund hub. John founded his own money management firm in 1980, Alpine Capital Management, which he ran successfully for more than a decade before selling to a California-based group in 1992.
John moved to San Diego following the sale, where he soon established a successor firm in Summit Global Management. At Summit, he became widely recognized as the leading proponent of specialized investment strategies in the global water industry, creating a theme that has become increasingly important for its significant economic and social impact. He has been featured in numerous publications and productions highlighting his unique specialization, and by 2007 his success was such that he fulfilled his dream of bringing in his children to help manage the rapidly growing enterprise.
John was married to Lori Maguire in 2007 following a lengthy courtship – Lori was able to bring much joy to John in his later life and was the rock he leaned on as he battled his illness in his final years. John is survived by his wife Lori and daughter Natalie; daughter Sandy McIntyre, son-in-law John, and granddaughters Madison and Morgan; son Matt Dickerson and daughter-in-law Ana Constanza; and brother Tom Dickerson and his wife Paula, sister Joyce Temmer and her husband Claude, and numerous nieces, nephews, and grand-nieces and -nephews.
Memorial services will be held at the Marriott Del Mar, 11966 El Camino Real, San Diego, on Saturday, October 17, at 11am. In lieu of flowers, please consider making a donation to the John Dickerson Memorial Fund, which is currently evaluating finalists for a direct contribution to a worthy charitable project in the water space. Please email JDickersonMemorial@gmail.com for more information about the service or making a donation.