John Timson

John Timson was born March 4th, 1942 in Watford, England, a suburb of London. He was the son of Victor Timson, a World War II Veteran and Norah Rothery Timson. John, along with his sisters, Helen and Hazel, were raised in a difficult time, rationing food was normal and wasting anything was forbidden. Despite the fact the War ended while John was only 3, the lasting effects of the war had an impact on his appreciation for life.

In his youth, John loved to play football, enjoyed running, cycling and wasn’t particularly fond of school. As a teenager John worked hard getting up every morning delivering newspapers and doing the odd jobs so he could save up enough money for his first motorcycle. He had a passion for speed and really enjoyed working on the engine and getting everything he could out of the machine.

In 1959, John met his real love, Jennifer Howe. They worked together at Yeatmans, a small confectionary factory. She too was from Watford, the Daughter of a War Veteran and Gladys Howe, she lived a very modest life alongside her siblings, Chris, Wendy and Stuart. Jennifer was perfect for John, she shared the same values and perhaps more importantly at the time, was not afraid to jump on the back of his motorcycle and ride 100+ mph around the countryside of England. The Director of Yeatmans saw great potential in John and sent him to study at the London Polytechnic Institute, where he graduated with a degree in Confectionary Processing.

John and Jenny were married in 1965 and started a family. John's career was blossoming, he had an incredible work ethic and quickly rose to the top at Cavenham Confectionary. In 1976, John was recruited to run Moirs Candy in Halifax, Nova Scotia and moved to North America where he knew there were opportunities to succeed and provide a better lifestyle for his family. It didn’t take long for that to ring true, and two years later, John was promoted to President of Standard Brands North America in Toronto.

In 1981, John was approached by George Kanelos to come to America and run his family business, Andes Candies in Delavan, WI. John was extremely proud of the team he built and spoke fondly of the employees and community that surrounded him during his time there. The company was purchased by Jacob Suchard, a Swiss Conglomerate known for Coffee and the Toblerone Bar. John soon found himself running Jacob Suchard, North America until it was sold to Brach’s Candy where he also took the helm. In 1990, W.R Grace came calling, John was ready to take on his next role and get back to his roots, chocolate. Ambrosia was an industrial supplier of chocolate and formulated chocolate to many familiar consumer brands across North America. Ambosia’s Factory was in dire shape and John thrived on the challenge of building a brand new factory from scratch. He was instrumental in every facet of the West Carmen Factory, from working with Government officials on the location and funding of the plant, determining state of the art equipment and manufacturing processes down to the design of the Employee break room. It was a defining moment in his career and one that he took great pride of. If that’s not enough, John was also picked by his peers to be Chairman of the National Confectionary Association, a role he treasured for two years.

Upon retirement, John and Jenny moved to Hilton Head, SC where John enjoyed his passions for golf, sailing and tending to his gardens.

John is survived by his wife, Jennifer and their two children, Racheal and Marc, along with spouses, Eric and Kim. He has five Granddaughters, Alexandra, Isabelle, Hannah, Kailey and Morgan, who he treasured.

A funeral service and celebration of life is going to be held on August 11th at the Timson's House, Eskdale, in Birmingham, AL.

In lieu of flowers, the family has requested that any donations be made in John's behalf to either the Tunnel for Towers organization at https://t2t.org/ or the Lake District Foundation at https://www.lakedistrictfoundation.org/