John Charles "Jack" Delay

1942 - 2022

Entrepreneur and civic activist John Charles ("Jack") Delay passed away on December 28, 2022 at age 80.
Born in Boston, Massachusetts on June 17, 1942, Jack was the second of Marguerite and Jerry Delay's six children. He spent his early years in Osterville, a rural boatbuilding and fishing village on Cape Cod. After 5th grade, the family moved to Bridgeton, New Jersey, where Jack graduated from Bridgeton High. He attended the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs from 1960 to 1964.
Jack moved to Seattle after his Air Force training. He worked for Boeing in the Airplane Division (IT), was involved with the independent Bookworm and Id bookstores, was founding director of the Open Door Clinic, a free clinic in Seattle's University District, and served as an editor and columnist for the Helix, a bi-weekly "underground" newspaper that featured the work of writers including Tom Robbins and Walt Crowley. In Seattle, Jack married first wife Sally Fichet, mother of their children Jack, Jr. and Anna.
Jack relocated to Eugene, Oregon in 1971 to work for the Oregon Research Institute as a researcher and then Director of IT. In 1977, he co-founded Datanex, a network software firm, selling the firm twelve years later to the company that became Verizon. Jack was elected to the Eugene City Council in 1972 (campaign slogan: "Time for Delay"), and was a co-founder of the Oregon Country Fair.
Throughout this period Jack deepened his involvement in Democratic Party politics, serving as Chair of the Oregon State Democratic Platform Committee throughout the 1970s and as Oregon's delegate to the National Democratic Platform Committee in 1976. Governor Neil Goldschmidt appointed Jack to serve on the Oregon Water Resources Commission in 1989, and he was elected to serve on the Eugene Water and Electric Board in 1990.
Jack married Patricia Decker in Eugene's stately Hendricks Park in June 1988. The couple moved to Bellingham, Washington in 1991 when the City of Bellingham hired Patricia to serve as Planning and Community Development Director.
In Bellingham, Jack devoted his time to community affairs, restoring a 1920s-era home on South Hill, and exploring the islands of the Salish Sea. A sailor since childhood, Jack restored the 34-foot yacht Island Reflections and enjoyed cruising with family and friends in San Juan Islands, the Canadian Gulf Islands, and the Desolation Sound area.
A keen strategic thinker, Jack was a trusted advisor and sounding board to campaigns and community leaders. He created targeted mailings for political candidates and was active in committee work with Bellingham City Club and the Whatcom County Democrats. Jack and Patricia initiated and he served as President of CommunityWise Bellingham, a non-profit created to inform the civic conversation around the proposed Gateway Pacific coal export terminal at Cherry Point until the project was cancelled in 2016.
Jack inspired others with his belief in the value of community, his irreverent sense of fun, his love of family and friends, and insatiable curiosity about what makes things work (or not work) in the world around him.
Jack is survived by beloved wife Patricia Decker, daughter Anna Vail of Bellingham, son Jack Delay, Jr. of Jackson Hole, Wyoming, brothers Jerry (Diana Ryesky) and Roy (Amy) Delay, sister Maggie Warren (Jim), niece Leanne Doud (and daughter Niya Norris), nephew James Warren (Kasey), granddaughter Evan Delay, and great-grandson Vincent Ryder Delay.
A Celebration of Life will be held at the Squalicum Boathouse in Bellingham on Sunday, June 25th, 2023. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations in remembrance to RE Sources (www.re-sources.org) or Children of the Setting Sun Productions (settingsunproductions.org) for their dedication to communities of the Salish Sea.