John Stanford

John Howard Stanford

John Howard Stanford, 95, who served as Controller of the UC system and Dean of the School of Management at JFK University, died on Saturday, December 20th at Bruns House, from complications brought on by the Parkinson's Disease he had battled without a single complaint for a decade. Born in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois on May 28, 1919, he grew up in Ontario, California. He graduated from UC Berkeley, received his MA in Public Administration at Syracuse, then served as a captain in the Strategic Air Command during WWII.
Returning to California he met and married Betty Bond, a Sacramento native and ballet, tap and modern dancer. They married and raised three children while John pursued a 20-year career as a public servant, ultimately serving as Deputy Director of the Dept. of General Services. During his years in state government he also taught management in night school at Sacramento State College. In 1967 the family moved to Berkeley, and John worked for a decade in statewide administration of the UC System, serving as Assistant Vice President, Controller, and Acting Vice President. He took early retirement to teach for a decade at JFK University, where he was also the Dean of the School of Management. In 2011 he published Making Sense of Management: A Professional Memoir.
A gifted pianist, John played "Rhapsody in Blue" before a full orchestra when he was 10 years old. An avid player throughout his life he brought great pleasure to family and friends, playing classical, jazz, Broadway show tunes, and boogie-woogie. He was also a devoted architectural buff, and during their years of travel he and Betty often planned their trips around buildings they wanted to experience.
He was predeceased by his parents, Howard and Dorothy Stanford, and his two sisters, Doris and Helen, and their husbands. He is survived by his wife of 67 years, Betty Stanford, their three grown children and their spouses, six grandchildren, his niece and nephew and their families, and numerous in-laws and cousins, including the lovely relatives of his mother Dorothy Inness, who live in and around Galesburg, Illinois. Loved by many, he will be missed.
The family invites all who knew John to attend a memorial celebration at the First Congregational Church of Berkeley, 2345 Channing Way, on Saturday, January 24th, at one p.m., followed by a reception. Betty requests that donations go to The Tremble Clefs (c/o Parkinson's Network of Mt. Diablo, Walnut Creek, CA) or Bruns House Hospice (c/o Hospice of the East Bay, Pleasant Hill, CA).