John R. “Jack” Morrison
San Rafael, CA - John (Jack) Ronald Morrison, age 87 died on July 14, 2016 after a courageous battle with cancer.
He is survived by his brother David (Joanne) and Jack’s three married children: Lisa Morrison (Kevin Cooley), Chris Morrison (Ann Partee Morrison), and Tom Morrison (Beatrice Friedman). He also leaves 8 grandchildren: Matt Cooley, Shirley Ann Morrison, Emily Cooley Hazard, Ben Morrison, Hannah Cooley, Molly Morrison, Carly Morrison, and Luke Morrison.
Jack grew up in Weirton, West Virginia as the son of a steel worker. Jack enlisted in the US Army in 1946 and served in occupied Japan. After his military service, he attended Bethany College and earned an undergraduate degree; he later received an MBA from the Wharton School of Business. At Bethany, he met and married Shirley Ann Eckberg from NJ. He was a loving partner and they had a blessed life of 58 years together until Shirley’s death in 2012.
In 1953 Jack and Shirley married and moved to Camden, NJ where Jack was employed by Raytheon Corporation in their HR department. In 1959, Raytheon(soon to be RCA) asked the family to move to Santa Barbara, California for a new position. In 1962 Jack was recruited to join a private executive search firm, first moving to Los Angeles and finally to San Francisco in 1964. In 1974 Jack started his own executive search firm and it grew to become a very successful enterprise. He was in early on the electronic/tech field and recruited many high level executives in these industries.
Jack was a passionate St. Francis Yacht Club member and adventurer—after moving to California he owned and raced sailboats as well as crewing on many other boats all over the world. After retiring, Shirley & Jack traveled the world together to many exotic destinations, they were unstoppable. Their extended family & friends would often receive postcards telling them about their adventures.
Jack’s proudest achievement and greatest joy was his family. Jack/Shirley took his entire family on holiday vacations spending much time of their free time visiting and adventuring with them. Jack was very proud of his grandchildren and attended each of their high school and college graduations (as well as many of their earlier sporting events); he was proud of the adults they have become.
He was a loving father/ grandfather and a knight in shining armor – he will be dearly missed. He had great friends throughout the world and many happy times with Cynthia Yamoto as well as many other local friends including his Sunday Brunch table-mates at Villa Marin. Many thanks to the caregivers at UCSF, VA hospital, Hospice Marin and Villa Marin – we appreciate their extraordinary care of Jack as he battled illness and rested comfortably in the last weeks of his life.
In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to the Marin YMCA (Jack was a lifetime member of the Marin YMCA and had served on its board).
All are invited to a celebration of Jack’s life is planned for 3 pm on August 20th at Villa Marin in San Rafael.