John Addison, age 83, of Bartlett, Tennessee passed away on Monday, November 22, 2021. John was born October 19, 1938 in Osyka, MS to the late Charlie and Annie Lou Addison. John Addison was a faithful servant at Bellevue Baptist Church for over 50 years. John joined Bellevue in 1963 with his wife, Janice and they taught Sunday School class to 6th grade students. After 36 years, they transitioned to the Family of Friends Life Group which he taught for 15 years. John served as a deacon, a Disciple Life Teacher, a Bellevue Baseball Coach, and he served with the Bellevue Foundation.
He graduated from the University of Southern Mississippi with Majors in Chemistry and Biology with minors in Mathematics and German. John received a Masters in Chemistry from Memphis State University. He worked at Baxter Laboratories, Velsicol Chemical and began his career at Schering - Plough as a Senior Methodist Chemist in 1966. He was ultimately promoted the Vice President of Quality Control and Technical Service, a position he held until his retirement in 1997. During the 1982 tampering deaths involving Tylenol, he chaired The Expert Technical Committee on Tamper - Resistant Packaging working with the Food and Drug Administration to develop the Tamper - Resistant Packaging Regulations to protect the general public. John had many accomplishments including: serving on multiple advisory boards for educational institutions at every level, serving on the Endowment Fund Committee for Chemistry Scholarships at University of Southern Mississippi, contributing to a Pharmaceutical textbooks and being a Professor at multiple Universities. He and Janice also endowed a scholarship for chemistry students at Southern Mississippi.
John is preceded in death by his brother, Charles Addison.
He is survived by his wife of 59 years, Janice Wells Addison, he is survived by his children; Greg Addison, (Janet), Wayne Addison (Suellen) and Kathy Armstrong (Rex) his grandchildren; Mabry, Ben, Grant, Ryan, Joseph, Nicholas, Mark, Weston and Emily, his siblings; Robert Addison, Margaret Anne Champagne, and David Addison.
A visitation for John will be held Friday, November 26, 2021 from 9:30 AM to 11:00 AM at Bellevue Baptist Church, 2000 Appling Rd, Cordova, TN 38016 followed by a funeral service at 11:00AM. The committal service will be Friday, November 26, 2021 at 12:00 PM at Memphis Funeral Home and Memorial Gardens, 3700 North Germantown Parkway, Bartlett, TN 38133.
In lieu of flowers, gifts in memory may be offered to Love Worth Finding Ministries (lwf.org)
Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.MemphisFuneralGermantownParkway.com for the Addison family.
