John Bentley Arnold

John (Jack) Bentley Arnold 1922-2009 A resident of San Francisco since 1980, was not a native of California; but, born in Quincy, Illinois in 1922. He graduated from Quincy High School, and Phillips Academy, Andover, Massachusetts. He was a graduate of Rensselaer Polytechnic in Troy, New York. He joined the U.S. Navy in World War 11 and was assigned to study at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md. During the war he served as Radar Officer on board the Aircraft Carrier USS Hancock. He was subsequently assigned to the U.S. Navy Post Graduate School, and left the Navy as a Lt. Commander. He graduated from the Harvard University School of Business with the class of 1950. After graduation, he worked with Automatic Electric of Chicago, Illinois, which was acquired by General Telephone Company. He worked in Italy 25 years, with responsibilities of all General Telephone Manufacturing outside the United States. In 1972 he became President of GTE International, based in New York City, with approximately 30,000 employees in 30 countries. He retired in 1978 with 30 years of service. He had extensive experience in Israel as a Director of Tadiran, GTE having 50% interest in the company. He visited the Holy Land and Christian shrines many times and received some understanding of their problems. After retirement he worked as consultant with Comsat in Washington, D.C. for two years; and, in 1980 came to California as President of Farinon Electric Company which was later sold to Harris Corporation of Florida. He was subsequently appointed to various Boards of Directors in California and served as interim president of Equipment Technology. He resigned from the Board when he reached what he considered an appropriate age for Board Members. In San Francisco, he was active with the Rose Resnik Center for the Blind and served on its Board of Directors Jack was a kind and generous man, and the persons he met in the business world, and in social contacts, quickly identified him as a friend. He is survived by his wife, Ann of 57 years - son, Dr. Peter Arnold of Milan, Italy - daughter, Dr. Susan Arnold-Aldea and her husband, Dr. Gabriel Aldea of Seattle, Washington - son, Dr. Stephen Arnold of Los Angeles, California and two grandsons, Alexander and Daniel Aldea of Seattle, Washington. Jack's family would welcome having those people who knew him, and are free to do so, join them at a memorial service on Saturday, October 17, 2009 at 10:30 a.m. at California's First Cathedral "Old St. Mary's" on the corner of California and Grant Streets in San Francisco.