John Oskam

MANCHESTER, Vt. - John Oskam, 68, died Aug. 11, 2011, at home surrounded by his loved ones after 19 years of battling prostate cancer. John truly lived the American Dream, going from milking cows at 4 a.m. growing up to becoming the CEO of an international mining company.

John was born July 8, 1943, in The Hague, Netherlands. His family came to the United States in the aftermath of World War II when he was 4 years old. Hard work, determination and an unyielding belief in his own abilities led to a successful career after graduating from Newton (N.J.) High School in 1961, and from Lafayette College (Pa.), with a Bachelor of Science in metallurgical engineering, in 1965. While at Lafayette, he played football and was a starting offensive lineman who participated in the 100th game against arch-rival Lehigh.

John worked in the mining industry for 40 years. He started his career at Kennecott Copper in Hayden, Ariz., where he was senior engineer in 1967. He next became the superintendent of Operations for Barton Mines, in North Creek, N.Y., and over the next 14 years rose to the position of vice president of operations and engineering. With a move in 1981 to Lakeland, Fla., John became the manager and subsequently the vice president of Phosphate Operations for Estech Inc., a subsidiary of Esmark Corp. In 1985, he became vice president of Vermont Talc Company, an ancillary of Swiss-owned Pluess-Satufer. After the sale of Vermont Talc, Pluess-Staufer asked John to move to the Far East to become managing director of Asia-Pacific for Pluess-Staufer, John established Joint Ventrures in Korea, Taiwan, Indonesia and Malaysia, while living in Hong Kong. John also established a trading company sourcing products for resale in Europe. In 1993, World Minerals, headquartered in California, recruited him as senior vice president of operations. In 1998, he returned to Pluess-Staufer as managing director of a subsidiary, Omya UK. In 2000, he returned to World Minerals as president and CEO. In 2005, at the age of 62, John retired to the family home in Manchester, Vt., and focused on his loves: golf and family.

John was an avid outdoorsman who, in his younger days, competed in canoe races at distances up to 70 miles as well as running many different races and distances including the Chicago Marathon.

John was a member of the First Congregational Church of Manchester, Dorset Field Club (where his favorite activity was winning friendly wagers against his golfing buddies), The Country Club of Mount Dora (Florida) and the Lafayette College Marquis Society. He was inducted into the Newton High School Hall of Fame in 2007.

His brothers, Adrian, Pieter, Hans, Anthony and Robert, predeceased John in death. John is survived by his wife of 49 years, Linda, who was his high school sweetheart and is still the prettiest girl from the Class of '61; his sons, David and Mark; his daughter-in-law, Hilary; his granddaughters, Alexandra and Lauren; his sister, Meg; and Maxwell, his beloved black lab.

A celebration of John's life will be held at the First Congregational Church in Manchester on Saturday, Aug. 20, at 2 p.m. A reception will follow at the Dorset Field club. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made in John's name to: The Dr. Daniel Petrylak Genitourinary Research Fund, 161 Fort Washington Ave., New York, NY 10032.

Petrylak involved John in numerous clinical trials, the benefits of which extended John's time with his family and friends, and is actively conducting research, which will be of great future benefit to those diagnosed with cancer. Brewster Funeral Service in Manchester has been entrusted with the care of John's funeral arrangements.