John David Porter

Porter, John David 53 Mar. 27, 1961 June 30, 2014 John David Porter was born in Tillamook, to Harley (Pete) and Ruth Porter. He died in Boston. Until John was 15, the Porters lived in Garibaldi, across Highway 101 from Tillamook Bay. John spent many happy hours exploring the woods and shore. He attended Garibaldi grade school and attended Neah-Kah-Nie High School in Rockaway Beach his freshman year. The family moved to Albany in the fall of 1976, and John graduated from South Albany High School in 1979. He earned an associate degree from Linn-Benton Community College in 1981 and a bachelor's degree in business from Oregon State University in 1983. John valued education and excelled at school. He earned a master's in taxation from Portland State University in 1989, an M.B.A. from Washington State University in 1998 and he completed the advanced management program at the Harvard Business School in 2001. He was awarded a doctorate in business administration from George Fox University in December 2013. Always a hard worker, John had summer jobs in 1975 and 1976 with the water and sewer maintenance crews in Rockaway Beach through the federal government's CETA program. After moving to Albany, he worked as a box boy at Richey's Market during high school and at the North Albany Racquetball Club during his college years. In the summer of 1983, after graduating from OSU, he started his professional career as an auditor with Touche Ross and its successor, Deloitte & Touche. In 1993, he went to work for AAA Oregon as Chief Financial Officer. In 1996, the club became AAA Oregon/Idaho. John became its president and CEO in 2001. He served in that role until December 2013. Under his leadership the club grew from 599,629 to 748,576 members. In January of 2014, John became executive vice president of AAA of Southern New England. He served in that role until his death. John attended Assembly of God churches throughout his early life. As an adult, he was a member of the Tualatin Foursquare Church. His faith in his Lord Jesus Christ remained firm until the end of his life. John served on many boards during his professional career. He was elected to the board of the OSU Alumni Association in 2005, and served as the association's president from 2011-2012. At the June 2012 Commencement, he had the honor of speaking following an address given by First Lady Michelle Obama. John loved to travel and his employment with AAA afforded him the opportunity to visit six continents, about 30 countries and to travel throughout the U.S. He enjoyed participating in sports, particularly basketball, soccer and golf. He played golf at many courses around the world, including its birthplace at Old St. Andrews in Scotland. John's other interests included reading and collecting first-edition books, OSU Beaver football and fun times with family and friends. John married Keely Blighton Sept. 15, 1990. His only sibling was his sister, Valerie, two years his senior. He is survived by Keely; his parents, Pete and Ruth; sister and brother-in-law, Valerie and David Snider; mother-in-law and father-in-law, Jim and Shirley Blighton; and a large extended family. John's family and friends will miss him greatly. A memorial service will be held at 1:30 p.m. Monday, July 14, 2014, at the First Assembly of God in Albany. For those wishing to memorialize John with a gift, the family suggests the following: Help build a scholarship endowment in John's name at Oregon State University by sending a gift to the John Porter OSUAA Scholarship Fund, OSU Foundation, 850 S.W. 35th St., Corvallis, OR 97333. Contribute to Campus Crusade for Christ (Cru) in support of the ministry of a friend of John's by sending a check to Cru Donation Services, 100 Lake Hart Drive, Orlando, FL 32828. Please write "for John Porter Memorial" on the memo line. You may give online at www.gcx.org/johnportermemorialatcru/.