John Hanna Hallaq

1928 - 2019

John Hanna Hallaq passed away peacefully in his home in St. George, Utah on Friday, May 3, 2019. Born in Iraq on May 13, 1928, John is the oldest of ten children born to Jergis Hallaq and Gahzella Katchi. In 1958 he came to the U.S., making him the first in his family to immigrate. Over the years, his siblings and their mother would follow. John married Janice Fulton in 1962 and divorced 33 years later.

John was athletically active and academically talented all his life. As a young man he represented his home country of Iraq in the 1948 London Olympic Games as a member of the first Iraqi Olympic basketball team. Later after arriving in the U.S., John attended Weber State College and UCLA obtaining his bachelor's and master's degrees. He went on to complete a Ph.D. from the University of Washington. He had an illustrious career as a professor of International Business & Marketing at the University of Idaho where he retired in 1996. John spent his retirement years in El Cajon, CA and St. George, UT where he enjoyed an active lifestyle which included playing bridge, a game at which he excelled, being awarded a gold medal in the St. George Huntsman Senior Games.

John will be greatly missed by his friends and large family for whom he deeply cared and always provided with support. John is survived by his loving and devoted life partner, Barbara Vandover, his three children, Ameera, Thomas (Tom), and Layla, his siblings, Mary Kope, Shawkat Hallak, Najib Hallaq, Najiba Jaju, Samir Hallak, Samira Azzo, Kamal Hallaq, Thomas Hallak, and Riadh Hallaq, as well as his three grandsons, Brayton, Taylor and Kendall.

Services will be held on Monday, May 13, 2019 at 10:00 AM at St. Peter Chaldean Catholic Cathedral 1627 Jamacha Way, El Cajon, CA 92019. In lieu of flowers, the family requests financial donations be made to the Memorial Scholarship fund of John Hallaq available through any Wells Fargo bank location.