John Lemke

John R. Lemke

September 12, 1941 ~ July 13, 2019

John R. Lemke, 77, passed away on Saturday, July 13, 2019. He was born on September 12, 1941 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, the son of Raymond and Sarah Jane Stone Lemke. He graduated from Minneapolis West High School Class of 1959, graduated from law school at University of Minnesota, and worked for the Justice Department in Washington DC.

After being drafted in 1965 he served proudly in the Army stationed in Korea for two years and Germany for two years. During his service a general suggested that he obtain a commission and he went back to the Pentagon. He went to Germany and worked as an Army Lawyer for the Judge Advocate Corp.

After the war he went back to work in the Justice Department in Washington DC and later New York. After moving to California and earning another law degree, he worked at General Electric Nuclear Division for three years.

John married Gloria Zuniga on July 12, 1990, in Salt Lake City, UT.

John hired on in June 1976 as a Legal Counsel and Assistant Secretary for Amalgamated Sugar Co. and replaced Allan Lipman. In 1978 he became General Counsel and Secretary for the Company. When the growers bought Amalgamated he no longer was Secretary of the Company, but he continued as General Counsel until he retired. In 2017 and 2018 he worked as a volunteer for the Veterans Administration. He also volunteered to be a night court judge for small claims in Ogden.

He served on several boards including the Ogden Utah Symphony Ballet Association, the Ogden Nature Center, and the Children’s Aid Society of Ogden.

John loved bicycling, long distance running, hiking, and swimming in the ocean. They were his passions.

John is survived by his wife of 29 years, Gloria; son, Johnathan “Johnny” Lemke of Salt Lake City; stepdaughters, Patricia Villanueva (Eddie Lagunas) and her sons, Nicholas Cope and his daughters Jazzmine, Shailyn, and Serafina Cope, and James Mitchell; Gloria Alicia (Guillermo) Santana and her children, William Santana and Marcos Santana; Maria Consuelo Fierro and her daughters Milagros Jaskowski and Marissa Jaskowski; sister, Jane Niemi of Minneapolis, MN. He was preceded in death by his parents and sister, Jean I. Lemke.

Memorial services will be held on Friday, July 26, 2019 at 11 a.m. at Lindquist’s Ogden Mortuary, 3408 Washington Blvd. with Father Charles Cummins officiating. Friends may visit with family on Thursday from 6 to 8 p.m. at the mortuary. Interment, Lindquist’s Washington Heights Memorial Park, 4500 Washington Blvd.

In lieu of flowers the family suggests donations be made to the Catholic Diocesan Development Drive at www.givecentral.org or Alzheimer’s Association at alz.org.

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