Dr. John K. Howie

John was born in Oak Park, Illinois and also lived in River Forest, Illinois as a child. He graduated from Oak Park-River Forest High School in 1963. Early on he knew that he wanted to be a scientist and the two possibilities for him were chemistry or physics. So, it was no surprise that when he went to Grinnell College, Grinnell Iowa he chose chemistry as a major. Chemistry had more job opportunities. It is here that he met his lifelong partner, Janice (Jan) Linnell. John and Jan graduated from Grinnell in 1967 and were married in 1968. This year they would have been married for 50 years.

After college, John went to graduate school at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York and received a Master of Science degree in 1969 and a Doctor of Philosophy, in of course, chemistry in 1974. From there, John and Jan went to Riverside, California for John’s postdoctoral studies at the University of California, Riverside.

Returning to a more variable climate, John was employed at Proctor and Gamble in Cincinnati, Ohio as a research scientist from 1977 until his retirement in 2001. He worked first in the Industrial Chemicals Division, and then in the Foods Division on olestra, a fat substitute.

Florida became Jan and John’s retirement home with a new home and a boat on the water in New Port Richey. They traveled often, and enjoyed an active life of boating, kayaking, hiking and biking. John also became an accomplished artist painting contemporary art.

The burial service for John will be held at Sylvan Abbey Memorial Park at 2860 Sunset Point Rd., Clearwater, FL on Sunday, March 4th at 2pm. A Celebration of John’s Life will be held at his home at 5500 Leahy Ln., New Port Richey, FL at 4pm. Dress is casual for both.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to either the World Wildlife Fund, Metropolitan Ministries (Tampa, Fl) or the Ocean Conservancy.