John Linneman Jr.

1944 - 2018

John Henry Linneman, Jr.

Born February 29, 1944, St. Cloud, MN - Died September 27, 2018, Walnut Creek, CA

At the official age of 18, leap-year baby John Linneman died after an active life of 74 chronological years. For the past year he'd been suffering from bone marrow cancer. He is survived by his wife of 43 years Connie Walton Linneman and 2 daughters, Heather Gonzalez of San Ramon and Penny Linneman, Arkansas. He was the only child of parents Jean and John Henry Linneman, Sr.

At 10 years old, John's family escaped the Minnesota snow and moved to San Diego, where he later majored in business at SDSU. He attended University of Maryland Grad School after serving 4 years in the US Navy, including 2 years in Viet Nam as a member of the Underwater Demolition Team, now known as the SEALS.

In Hartford, Connecticut, 1974, John began his career in reinsurance and met the love of his life, Connie, working in the same office. They moved to SF in 1977 to open Bellefonte Reinsurance Co. In 1981 he started his own company, Sierra Reinsurance, in 1989 founded J.Linneman & Co., and in 2011 opened LSI in Walnut Creek. He was a member of the Rotary Club of Lafayette.

Though John was a big guy (6'4"), the little boy in him lasted his whole life. Being on the water was a lifelong passion, from sailing his 47' boat in a race to Hawaii and back, to restoring a vintage 1949 Chris Craft wooden boat, that he named "Clementine," to cruise on Lake Tahoe. He was a member of the St. Francis Yacht Club and SF Olympic Club, where he engaged another interest, golf. He also belonged to Round Hill Country Club in Alamo and Rancho Mirage CC in Palm Desert. In the Lafayette house where he and Connie lived for 30 years before moving to Rossmoor last year, he had an entire room devoted to his model train set up. He loved taking photographs and was a real tech junkie, always acquiring the latest Apple device.

John's ashes will be scattered on San Francisco Bay.