(1971 - 2021)
In the early morning of Saturday, 5th June 2021, Jonathan Rodd packed up his guitar and took to the heavens to join a new band.
After a heroic three-and-a-half year battle with brain cancer, Jonathan died peacefully in his sleep at home. He is survived by his loving wife Nina and their three amazing children, Haakan (18), Katja (15), and Teagan (10); as well as his parents, Michael and Nita Rodd of Cobham, Surrey, UK; and his brothers, Benjamin (& Lisa) of Bath, UK; and Owen (& Abby) of Godalming, UK and their respective families.
Though Jonathan grew up and went to school in the South East of England, he never forgot that he was a Northerner, born on Tyneside on 9th January 1971. His passion for the Newcastle United Football Team, known to all fans as “The Toon”, was unrelenting and had absolutely no correlation to the team’s success. Throughout his life he would proudly proclaim, “If you cut me open, I bleed black and white.”
Those of you who knew Jonathan as an adult might be surprised to learn that he was considered a quiet and calm child. The fair and curly-haired middle son of three boys, young Jonathan’s happy demeanour helped him to make friends easily. His lifelong passion for music began with singing in the choir of his local church, which he did for eight years, and flourished as he went on to play the clarinet, saxophone, double bass (for which he won a place in a national school orchestra) and guitar (acoustic, electric and bass). Jonathan’s love of outdoor sports was also sparked in childhood, as he represented his school at both tennis and long distance running. He became House Captain at his senior school, whilst his holiday jobs with several large organisations gave him insight into the business world and influenced what he went on to study at university.
Jonathan really loved his time at Lancaster University, where he graduated with a degree in Marketing and where his son, Haakan will follow in his Dad’s footsteps in October of this year. Whilst there allegedly was some studying involved at university, Jonathan’s proudest accomplishments from this time were the deep friendships he forged that lasted throughout his entire life. The stories of surfing on trash bins and pub crawls along “The Spine” have not been exaggerated and have rightly become the stuff of legend.
Jonathan began his marketing career at Unilever and started using phrases like “3D child novelty water ices,” (popsicles to the rest of us) and "portionability" (which even got its own Wikipedia page). Then, after a few years he moved to Cheltenham to work at Kraft. It was during one of his many weekend visits to London to see his incredible friends that he met the love of his life, Nina. For Nina, it was love at first sight when she saw Jonathan sitting on the radiator in the front room at Nursery Road in his blue-and-white checked shirt, grinning away with a cheeky twinkle in his eye. For Jonathan, it took six weeks for him to realize that he would never again be so lucky in love, a minor detail that Nina never let him forget. They were married at Clearwell Castle on September 23, 2000. Jonathan was so happy they married in a year that would make it easy for him to remember which wedding anniversary they would be celebrating.
After getting married, Jonathan and Nina moved to Dublin, Ireland and Stamford Connecticut, where Jonathan worked for Diageo, then he moved to work for Mars in Slough, England to become their Global Innovation Director. In 2007, he was awarded an O1 “exceptional ability” visa for his marketing work which enabled the travels and adventures that took the Rodds to Boulder with then two children, Haakan and Katja. Jonathan loved Boulder for its 300 days/year of sunshine, skiing, hiking, camping and outdoor lifestyle. Boulder quickly became home with countless new friends, as wherever he went, Jonathan created a warm and fun-loving community around him. It was here that the family became complete with the birth of Teagan in 2010, and the addition of two dogs, Maddie and Loki.
Jonathan brought his energy and passion to his work at Egg Strategy for all of his 14 years in Boulder, ultimately serving as the President of Egg, a marketing and strategy consultancy fittingly dedicated to exploring the messiness of modern life and to creating bold and simple solutions rooted in fundamental human truths, principles that Jonathan lived by every day. In typical Jonathan fashion, he also met incredible friends at Egg who would support all the Rodds through some of their greatest and most challenging times with compassion and creativity.
Jonathan was known for his deep love and commitment to his family, his creativity, innovation and empathy in his work, his passion for music, singing and playing the guitar (although remembering the lyrics was never a strength). Jonathan loved life; he really, really loved it. He had an unparalleled ability to turn an average afternoon into an occasion, and a deadpan sense of humor, given away only by the sparkle in his brilliant blue eyes.
So, wherever you are, pour yourself a glass of wine, beer or whisky in Jonathan’s honor, put on your favorite Queen, Counting Crows or Tom Petty song, and sing along as loudly as you can, because that’s what Jonathan would do.
Rest now, my love. One day our band will be back together. We love you always and forever.
Cheers to a life lived to the full!
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In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made in Jonathan’s honor to TRU Community Care or The American Brain Tumor Association.
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