John Sutthoff

Brusie Funeral Home

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Dr. John Sutthoff, age 95, died Christmas Day 2020 in his sleep in Chico. 
Born in Eureka, CA on November 6, 1925, he was the son of Jack and Marjorie Sutthoff, both natives of Washington state. They as well as his sister Katherine and brothers Riley and Peter predeceased him. Until recently, John was the last surviving member of his immediate family. 
 
John was raised in Piedmont. During the Depression he lived near Occidental (Sonoma County), where he attended a one-room school. The family later moved to Sausalito where he attended Tamalpais High School in Mill Valley and served as student body president. He was also the co-editor of the school newspaper, which was the start of a life-long interest in journalism and mass communications. 
 
During high school John attended social dances throughout Marin County, and it was at one in San Rafael that he met Barbara Kirby, who attended nearby Dominican High School. They enjoyed a dance together, but immediately after graduation in 1943 he joined the Navy and left to serve on the USS Rowe (DD564) in the Pacific, including the signing of the peace treaty with Japan in Tokyo Harbor in 1945. He later earned the rank of Lieutenant Junior Grade [Lt. Jg]. in the Naval Reserve. 
John's father owned a logging equipment company, so from John's senior year in high school, and again after the War through college, he worked summers in the McCloud logging camps near Lassen Park, and Rockport Redwood Co. on the Mendocino Coast. During this time he set choker cables, loaded logging trucks, and cruised for timber with his Uncle John Riley, a loving but demanding logger who instilled an appreciation for hard work, physical toughness, and colorful language. 
After the war, John attended St. Mary's College in Moraga (1946-48) where he was editor of the campus newspaper. In his junior year he transferred to Stanford University where he majored in journalism and was managing editor of the Stanford Daily. 
Upon graduation from Stanford in 1949 with a B.A John worked four years for Levi Strauss, the blue jeans maker, in San Francisco as an assistant sales manager and director of their rodeo and livestock promotion at the Cow Palace and other locales throughout the U.S. During this period he re-met Barbara and over time they became engaged, then married on August 5, 1950. Faced with being frequently away from home every month, he accepted a teaching position at Claremont College in southern California. John taught for two years (1954-56) at Claremont before returning to Stanford to begin his four-year doctoral studies in Journalism. 
While at Stanford both as an undergraduate and later as a doctoral student, John played rugby football. He later played for the Olympic Club in San Francisco. He founded and coached the West End Rugby Club in East Los Angeles, which celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2004. 
He took great pride that he played in the five major football stadiums in California: Stanford, California, Kezar, the Coliseum, and the Rose Bowl. 
John received his Ph.D in Journalism with a minor in the Administration of Higher Education in 1960. Concurrent with his studies he served as a Research Associate managing a three-year nationwide study of the extent to which 100 randomly selected school districts throughout the USA did or did not implement the 1954 Supreme Court decision to desegregate the nation's public schools. The study at that time was the largest funded grant ever by the federal Department of Education. In the course of his work he met President Glenn Kendall of Chico State College who hired him as his executive assistant in the fall of 1960. 
For the next 35 years, John held executive administrative posts under three university presidents before accepting a journalism professorship in the College of Communications, which he had created in 1967. His special fields of study were news writing, international communications, mass media and society. He was awarded three sabbaticals: visiting lecturer at Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland; foreign correspondent, Hearst newspapers, Paris France covering a UNESCO world conference on creating a "New World Information Order;" and again in Paris to explore establishing university internships between CNN and US State Department to improve news coverage of embassies and consulates in Europe. 
John retired from CSU Chico in 1995. Each of his four children attended the university, two of them earning master's degrees. 
In 1975 John and Barbara led their first of eight study tours for Chico State to Ireland, England, Scotland, Wales, and western Europe. Other tours followed which they guided on their own until 1990. Tours or not, each summer they traveled to Europe for over 20 years. 
On May 17, 2012, Dr. Sutthoff was inducted into the Chico State University Retired Faculty and Staff Hall of Honor, 52 years after joining the faculty. 
Within the Chico community, John also had an active volunteer career, much of it in harmony with his administrative and faculty duties. He served two terms as Chairman of the Board of KIXE public television; President of the Butte-Glenn County United Crusade; President of Chico Rotary; Board Member for Social Services and Charities, Catholic Diocese of Sacramento; Personnel Board, City of Chico; Board Member for Chico Museum and Mt. Lassen Council, Boy Scouts of America. 
John was an Eagle Scout as was his brother, his son, and two grandsons. 
Throughout his life he was an avid outdoors man and fly fisher. The family camped annually in Yosemite National Park, often twice a year, including the heart of winter. One of his children told her son that, "When we were children, we owned Yosemite!" He climbed Mt. Shasta when his son was 16, and again when a grandson was also 16. Canoeing was his real passion. For several years he led an annual New Year's Day canoe and kayak run down Chico Creek from the Five Mile to the One Mile Dam. He also led an annual 3-day canoe trip for the Sierra Club on the Sacramento River from Redding to the Ide Adobe state park just north of Red Bluff. 
He was among the initial Chicoans to make the celebrated annual "Polar Bear" plunge into Chico Creek at the One Mile dam and swim across to the other side on New Year's Day. 
Throughout his career and in retirement, John was a member of one particular morning coffee group founded in WWII by former mayor and civic leader, Ted Meriam. It was composed of a mixture of city council, business leaders, and faculty. It met on Saturday mornings downtown at Corey's and named its group after its famous "The World Affairs Council." The Los Angeles Times ran a photo of the group discuss 1980 pre-election issues. A monthly luncheon meeting was added in 2000. Known as "COGS (Chico Old Goats) it was limited to 12 members, who were over 60 and had lived in Chico for over 20 years. 
John is survived by his four children, Susan Birtcil (Edd) of Chico, John jr (Lisa) of San Rafael, Marie Knipe (Mike) of Florida, and Anne Hamilton (Tim) of Homer, Alaska. Three daughters Anne Marie, Mary Francis and Theresa Mary are deceased. The Sutthoff legacy lives on within his seven grandchildren and five great grandchildren. His wife of 67 years, Barbara Kirby Sutthoff, predeceased him in 2017. John will be buried at her side in Chico Cemetery. Due to Covid concerns, interment will be private. A memorial service will be held later in 2021.

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John Sutthoff Obituary | Altogether