John Dominic Gerletti

Gerletti, John Dominic
August 4, 1915 - October 27, 2010
John Gerletti was born and raised in the small town of Sparta, Wisconsin, and was the 5th child of six children. He loved the outdoors where he learned the fine art of fly fishing and the respect of nature, which he later shared with his family. Early in his educational career he taught high school chemistry, later becoming a high school principal. He served our country proudly in WWII and achieved the rank of 2nd Lieutenant in the U.S. Army. He met and married Kathryn Green, from Baltimore, Maryland after meeting her at an USO dance. They married on April 3, 1946. John used the GI Bill to further his education, earning his Ph.D in Education from the University of Southern California, where he continued on as a member of the faculty of the School of Public Administration. During his distinguished career at USC he wrote several books and had tours of service taking his family to Iran and Pakistan, working for the Agency for International Development (AID). Throughout his career he was very active in international educational efforts in many parts of the world by recruiting Master and Doctoral students to the International Public Administration Center (IPAC) at USC. John retired at age 76 as Full Professor Emeritus. He was a great sports fan, especially of the USC Trojans. He taught many student athletes throughout his teaching career. John and Kathryn rarely missed USC football games and enjoyed meeting their friends and colleagues at the Faculty Center for pre-game meals. John was a devoted, loving father and husband; kind, quick witted and always ready with a smile. He was active in his community and raised his family in the small town of South Pasadena, CA, where he lived for over 55 years. He is survived by Kathryn, his wife of 64 years; four children, John, Harold, David and Kathy; six grandchildren; and one great grandchild.