John C. Whitaker

John Carroll Whitaker, born December 29, 1926, died on June 12, 2016 in Chevy Chase, MD at the age of 89. Mr. Whitaker was a former domestic policy aide to President Richard Nixon. He was born in Victoria, British Columbia, attended Loyola High School in Baltimore, MD, graduated from Georgetown University in 1949, and received his Ph.D. in geology from Johns Hopkins University in 1953. He first worked in field geology and airborne geophysical surveys, becoming vice-president of the International Aero Service Corporation. He then began doing part-time advance work for Richard Nixon. He served an advance man in Nixon's 1960 presidential campaign and coordinated Nixon's schedule in the 1968 presidential campaign. He joined the Nixon White House staff, first as cabinet secretary and then as a Deputy Assistant for Domestic Affairs, where he coordinated White House policy initiatives on the environment, energy and natural resources. He later served as Under Secretary of Interior under Presidents Nixon and Ford. Following government service, he was vice president of Union Camp Corporation, was an advisor on President Reagan's commission on Americans Outdoors, and served as the first executive director of the Richard Nixon Library and Birthplace. Upon his retirement Whitaker was chairman of the board of Rebuilding Together, a national non-profit organization, which repairs homes for low-income elderly citizens. He also volunteered serving the sick and elderly at the Gift of Peace House run by the Missionaries of Charity in Washington, DC.

His wife of 43 years, the former Mary Elizabeth Bradley, died in 2001. Survivors include his five sons, John Clifford of Cincinnati, OH, Robert Carroll of Philadelphia, PA, Stephen Bradley of San Luis Obispo, CA, William Burns of Kensington, MD, and James Ford of Pacific Palisades, CA, along with fourteen grandchildren.

A funeral mass will be held at 11 a.m. on Saturday June 18, 2016 at the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament, 3630 Quesada Street, NW, Washington, DC 20015. A visitation at the church, beginning at 10 a.m., will precede the funeral. Following the funeral, a private burial will be held at St. Mark's Episcopal Church in Perryville, Maryland.

Memorial contributions will be gratefully received at Rebuilding Together, 1899 L Street NW, Suite 1000, Washington, DC 20036; Missionaries of Charity, 2800 Otis St NE, Washington, DC 20018; and Washington Jesuit Academy, 900 Varnum St NE, Washington, DC 20017.