John Christopher Orman

1942 - 2023

John Christopher Orman
March 12, 1942 - May 18, 2023
John Christopher Orman-Chris to friends and family-died May 18, 2023, at home in Half Moon Bay, California, from advanced prostate cancer. He was 81.
Chris was a man whose character endeared him to others. He was intelligent, generous, humble, compassionate, and helpful. He was always kind and gentle. His keen intellect and playful sense of humor, especially his love of puns, permeated his professional and personal life.
Chris was born in Kirkwood, Missouri, in the dark middle days of World War II, in which his father Oscar served in the U.S. Navy aboard the aircraft carrier USS Ticonderoga. Chris's lifetime of service to others began early, with his helping his mother Caroline Lewis Orman to repair and restore their Missouri farmhouse. As a teenager, following his family's move to California, he served as student body president at El Segundo High School. During his high school years he acquired the nickname "Haci", or "pilgrim" in Arabic, due to his American Field Service student term in Izmir, Turkey.
Chris graduated from the University of California at Berkeley, and was managing editor during undergraduate years of the Daily Californian newspaper, as well as president of his fraternity, the Delta Deuteron branch of Theta Delta Chi. He graduated in 1964 with a BS in civil engineering and immediately went into military service.
Chris served in the U.S. Navy Civil Engineer Corps during the Vietnam War in a time when the war sparked passionate controversy and antiwar sentiment was strong, but he believed it was his duty to serve. During his military years, Chris married Nanette Hector, a fellow Daily Cal journalist. After leaving active duty, he earned an MS in civil engineering, afterward joining Leigh Fisher Associates (LFA), a prominent airport planning firm in the San Francisco Bay area, rising from junior associate ultimately to managing partner. LFA evolved over time, through a long affiliation with KPMG Peat Marwick's consulting practice, to a return to private ownership under his watch. After 26 years he retired, but continued to consult for the firm.
Throughout his working and volunteer careers, Chris was known to be honest, hardworking, clever and dependable. His character and planning and engineering skills enabled him to influence airports worldwide, including those in Teheran, Tel Aviv, Hong Kong, Taiwan, all major Hawai'i airports, and many U.S. mainland airports.
Early in his airport consulting career, Chris updated the techniques used by airport planners to estimate airport capacity and determine efficient airport layouts. Many of those techniques are still currently in wide use. He went on to direct studies to select sites for new airports, develop airport master plans, and establish land use compatibility between airports and surrounding communities. In his work, Chris was thoughtful, deliberate, and always committed to the highest standards. His technical expertise, diligence, and integrity were held in the highest regard by airport professionals.
As the managing partner of the LFA airport consulting practice, Chris guided its growth and reinforced its preeminent reputation for excellence. Chris was widely respected as a hardworking, strong, and effective practice leader, but was also admired as a fair, good-humored, and generous boss who was without self-importance. He was committed to the professional development of the practice staff, many of whom went on to positions of leadership in the U.S airport industry.
Following his retirement from LFA, Chris used his business and engineering skills as a volunteer for the American Red Cross in San Mateo County, California, where he filled many roles over 20 years, including: disaster relief assistance during the 2005 aftermath of Hurricane Katrina; managing a shelter after the San Bruno pipeline explosion in 2010; opening a shelter at Half Moon Bay High School during a 2011 tsunami warning event; serving as a liaison with the San Francisco Airport staff following the 2013 Asiana Airlines crash; and training hundreds of county partner agency volunteers and staff. He received many awards for his dedication over the years, recently receiving from the office of President Joe Biden the President's Lifetime Achievement Award, an honor reserved for those with at least 4000 hours of volunteer service.
A colleague at American Red Cross comments: "Chris's passion for the clients was an inspiration to all of us. His wisdom and knowledge were a precious gift. Whenever any client had a question, Chris had an answer, advice, and a joke to go with it."
Chris is survived by his wife, Nanette Orman MD, his daughter Laurel Anne Konkol, son Nathaniel Orman, grandson Tristan Fabri, and his adored Persian rescue cat Louis XIV, as well as brother Charles Lewis Orman (Marion), sister Pamela Sharp, brother-in-law Hans Stenzel, and many nieces and nephews. As he requested, his ashes will be placed in the Pacific Ocean off Half Moon Bay during a private gathering. A memorial gathering will be announced later. Donations honoring his life may be made to the American Red Cross.
Chris was special in many ways. The words of Shakespeare fit him well: "His life was gentle, and the elements/So mixed in him, that nature might stand up/And say to all the world 'This was a man'."