John Hamilton Chase

1934 - 2022

John Hamilton Chase
October 8, 1934 - June 1, 2022
John Hamilton Chase passed away peacefully at his home on June 1, 2022 at the age of 87. He was born on October 8, 1934 in New York City and was raised in Watertown, Connecticut. He was a graduate of Pomfret School (1952) and Middlebury College (1956). He met and married Barbara Philen in 1957; a marriage of almost 62 years through Barbara's death in 2019. After their Brownsville, Texas wedding, they moved from San Francisco to New York City where John served in the US Army Counter Intelligence Corps.
John returned to SF to work in advertising and joined Transamerica Corp in 1962 to develop a career in marketing and community relations management. Early in his Transamerica career he became the spokesman for the company's new headquarters building, the Transamerica Pyramid. He led the building proposal through 13 public hearings to construction approval in 1969. He became president of the property management and leasing of the pyramid and other investment properties.
John was responsible for a broad range of communication activities at Itel Corporation from 1977-1979. In 1979 he joined Genstar Corporation on the company's move to San Francisco, where he was responsible for the development of a corporate affairs department.
When Genstar Corp was acquired in 1989, John and Barbara left their home in Ross where they raised their four children and built a ranch in St Helena where they raised alpacas. They retired from the ranch in 2004 and moved to Smith Ranch Homes in San Rafael.
John always believed in giving back to his communities. He served for 15 years on the City Council of the Town of Ross as a Councilman and Mayor. He served on the Board of Trustees of the Branson School for 25 years as President and trustee. At Smith Ranch Homes, he was President of the Board of Directors for several years and active in many activities of the retirement community. He and Barbara participated as grief counselors with Suicide Prevention and spent 10 years as volunteers with Hospice in Napa.
John loved to sail and spent many weekends hosting friends on sails on the San Francisco Bay. He was a member of the St Francis Yacht Club and the Inverness Yacht Club.
John and Barbara enjoyed many social events at the Lagunitas Country Club. John had great humor and was the leader of the Loosely Drawn Lunch Club which met monthly for many years.
John is survived by his daughter Galen Laughton (Mitch), son Bruce Chase (Heather), and daughter Cameron Brugler (Bruce) and 11 grandchildren. He is predeceased by his wife, Barbara, and his youngest son, Scott.
A celebration of John's life will be held at the Marin Art and Garden Center in Ross at 11:00am on Friday, September 2nd.