John Arthur Almquist Jr.

John Arthur Almquist Jr. was born on March 19, 1932, in Wilmington, Delaware, the only child of John Arthur Almquist, Sr., a chemist at duPont, and Carol Bruce Almquist. He died in Tucson, his home for more than 60 years, on March 18, 2022. John grew up on a farm in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania. He graduated from Phillips Academy (Andover) in 1950 and received a BA in Economics from Cornell University in 1955. While at Cornell, he met Laura (Lolly) Treman, and they were married in 1956. John was commissioned in the US Navy through the Cornell Naval ROTC program in March 1955 and served as a combat duty pilot aboard aircraft carriers in 1956 and 1957. In 1958, he and his family moved to Tucson, where he worked as a stockbroker and as a Naval Reserve pilot. In 1964, John joined the Arizona Air National Guard in Phoenix. He was appointed Commander of the Arizona Air National Guard in 1983 and promoted to the rank of Major General in 1987.