John Allan Sproul
March 28, 1924 - June 7, 2017
John Allan Sproul was born on March 28,1924 in Oakland, California to Robert Gordon and Ida Amelia (Wittschen) Sproul. At age six, his father became the President of the University of California, and his parents, two older siblings (Marion and Robert Jr.) and paternal grandmother moved into the President’s House on the UC Berkeley campus. Growing up on the campus was a happy time: it fueled a life-long passion for Cal sports, and allowed him to meet many distinguished campus guests and learn from an early age that people with a particular job or a fancy title are just people.
From bat-boy duties at Edwards Field (now Evans Diamond) to losing his front tooth falling off the fence into Memorial Stadium, he “cut his teeth” following Cal sports. Into his 90s, he continued to read about all campus sports, watch them on TV, attend occasional football, basketball and baseball games, and write letters of consternation when the management of the athletic department let him down.
He attended Emerson Elementary, Willard Jr. High, Berkeley High School, UC Berkeley, and Boalt Law School. While at Berkeley High and in college, he played basketball well enough to earn a place on the team. As an adult, he played golf on the weekend more religiously than he attended church.
From the age of three, he spent part of each summer at Echo Lake in the Sierra Nevada, where he developed his enthusiasm for fishing and the beauty of the mountains and imparted that enthusiasm to his children.
On a blind date in college, he met the girl who, surprisingly, shared the same birth date as John and who would become his life-long partner: Marjorie Ann (Hauck) Sproul, who survives him. They were married on June 20, 1945, when John was serving in the U.S. Air Force during World War II. They had four children: John Jr., Malcolm (wife Casey), Richard (wife Mary) and Catherine (husband Michael). There are eight grandsons: Andrew (wife Casey), Robert (wife Katie), Scott (wife Jenna), Joseph (wife Kristin), David, Matthew, Alexander, and Christopher; and four great-grandsons: Patrick, Brendan, Dillon, and Luke (with a fifth on the way).
Except for a four-year detour at a private law firm, he worked for the Pacific Gas and Electric Company in San Francisco his entire career. He started as an attorney, progressed through various management positions and retired in 1989 as an Executive Vice President. His community involvement included serving on the California Constitution Revision Commission, the El Cerrito Municipal Code Revision Committee, Alta Bates Hospital Board of Directors, Hastings Law School Board of Directors, Lawrence Hall of Science Advisory Board, and the Advisory Board of the UC Berkeley Canadian Studies Program.
Club memberships included two of his favorite domino playing haunts during his retirement years: the Orinda Country Club and the Pacific Union Club.
He died at home on June 7, 2017. His family thanks the Fa family for the dedicated care they provided John.
Private services will be held. Remembrances can be made in John’s name to the Sproul Family Scholarship Fund of the Cal Alumni Association (1 Alumni House, Berkeley, CA 947207520) or to the Cal Baseball Foundation (3470 Mt. Diablo Blvd., Suite A110, Lafayette, CA 94549).