John Robert Newton JR.

John Robert Newton Jr. passed away on Feb. 8, 2025 at his home in Sebastian, at the age of 94, surrounded by his family. He was born on Mindanao, an island in the Philippines on Nov. 9, 1930 to American parents Mildred née Gill Newton (1899-1989) and John Robert Newton (1901-1971). John was raised in the Philippines, Guam, and then Hawaii. He graduated from the Punahou School as a boarding student in 1949 and attended Menlo Junior College in California before enlisting in 1952 in the U.S. Army's Airborne Corps.
He is preceded in death by his parents, his wife Deirdre O'Connor Newton (1935-2016), his sister Shirley Newton, his brother Whit Newton (1935-2019), and his daughter Deborah Brooke (1955-2020).
He is survived by his partner, Cheryl Zeman of Sebastian, and five children: John Robert Newton III (Barbara) of Fort Lauderdale, FL; Michael David Newton (Kathleen) of Fort Lauderdale, FL; Cheryl Laidlaw (Scott) of Newport Beach, CA; Gillian Callaghan (Fran) of Vero Beach, FL; Sara Matthis (Mark) of Marathon, Florida and his son-in-law Peter Brooke of Wellington, FL. He is survived by 17 grandchildren: Patrick, Michael, John, Allen, Nikki, Brianne, Lucas, Colin, Morgan, Laurel, William, Andrew, Rory, Evan, Jane, Audrey and Rachel. He is survived by 19 great-grandchildren and his family continues to grow with another great-grandchild expected in the spring. Newton also claimed Hein Tran of Boca Raton as a "bonus" son.
John was first and foremost an entrepreneur and inventor of great talent imbued with enormous common sense, a love for the ocean and adventure, and a problem-solving mindset. Those qualities led to fabulous careers as a boat builder, and then an inventor.
In 1958, after serving his country and graduating University of California Berkeley on the G.I. bill, he and his young family moved to Hong Kong to launch American Marine on the shores of Junk Bay in the Kowloon territories. American Marine was a custom boat yard, building designs by the top naval architects of the day such as Sparkman & Stevens, Angelman & Davies and Herreshoff. In 1964, American Marine would ship its first production boat – the Grand Banks trawler – creating an entire new category of yachts that continue to be built to this day. Under John's guidance, American Marine also produced the Alaskan, a pilothouse-style boat, and the Laguna, a fast sports fisherman. After leaving Grand Banks in 1975, he continued as a boat builder, manufacturing yachts in Honduras, Central America, and Texas: the Amapala sportfisherman, Herreshoff Cat Ketch and Sparhawk Cat Ketch. At every step, Newton continued to be an innovator – seeking out new materials and engineering new design solutions that included boats built with positive flotation (couldn't sink) or being one of the first production boatbuilders to offer free-standing carbon fiber masts and spars as standard equipment.
In the early '90s, Newton hung up his boat building hat to start his second career as an inventor. He pioneered and patented the Strong Self-Aligning Shaft Seal and Strong Sail Track & Slide System, among others, for marine applications. By the early 2000s, he turned his sights to inventing constant flow valves, also patented, for the agriculture and then beverage industries. At the time of his passing, Newton was listed as the inventor on almost 100 issued and pending Patents. He continued to work almost full-time until he was 92 years old. In February of 2025, a revolutionary new soda dispensing machine was unveiled at a national conference in Atlanta that bears his name – the Gravity by Newton.
After living all over the world, John and his late wife settled in Sebastian, Florida for the last quarter decade. John was a founding member of the Vero Beach Youth Sailing Foundation and a member of the Vero Beach Yacht Club and United States Coast Guard Auxiliary Flotilla 56. He was a member of the Trinity Episcopal Church. At 93 years old, Newton undertook his last boat building project – completing the design and build of a 16-foot sailboat "Encore" in his garage with help from friends and family.
A funeral mass will be held at Trinity Episcopal church in Vero Beach on March 27th at 1pm. In lieu of flowers donations can be made to Vero Beach Youth Sailing or Trinity Episcopal Church. Newton's ashes will be spread at sea during a private, family-only ceremony.