John Henry Groth

GROTH

JOHN HENRY GROTH (Age 80)

John Henry Groth, born June 20, 1941, in Washington, DC to David and Dorothy Groth (Kidd), died in the afternoon of June 2, 2022, at Charlotte Hall Veterans Home in southern Maryland due to acute kidney failure after a year battling dementia. John grew up in Takoma Park, Maryland, graduating from High Point High School in 1959. Afterward, he enlisted in the Air Force; and upon returning home attended the University of Maryland at College Park, earning a B.S. in Political Science and International Relations.



With his degree specializing in Russian and Asian Studies he was then recruited by the Defense Intelligence Agency. A mid-life career change saw him enter the world of finance, working for E.F. Hutton, Paine Webber, and eventually starting his own company, Beacon Global LLC, which focused on hedge funds, private equity, and venture capital. In the latter arena he developed a relationship with the Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship at the Business School of his alma mater, UMD.



In 1976, Mr. Groth married Susan Russell Shanks, now deceased, with whom he had one son, John Kindig Groth. The marriage ended in divorce as did John's second marriage, to Carole Pollock. He met his third wife, Kathi Nickerson, in Annapolis, Maryland where he kept a sailboat. A natural at sailing, his great joy in life was to sail the Chesapeake Bay.



John is survived by wife Kathi; son John K. Groth and daughter-in-law Chelsey Christensen of Washington, DC, their son Weston and daughter Magnolia; stepson Brycen Erbe and stepdaughter Ashleigh Erbe; his sister Christine Murow of Potomac, Maryland, and brother David Groth of Kenosha, Wisconsin. A private remembrance was held by the family.