John Patrick Quigley passed away peacefully at his home in Eugene, Oregon on September 23, 2026. He was 91 years old.

John was born during the depression in Detroit, Michigan on November 28, 1934. As a child he lived with his parents in a trailer and moved around a lot as his father looked for work. He lived briefly with his mother in Quebec, Canada during World War II where she taught in the English language school while his father was deployed overseas in Europe with the Canadian Army.

John received a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from the University of Michigan and worked briefly as an engineer in Detroit. He was then drafted into the Army and deployed to Redstone Arsenal, Alabama where he worked on America’s nascent missile program under Wernher Von Braun. John fancied himself the intellectual in his small group of army buddies and joined the Army chess club. John later said of his time in the Army that it was one of the best times in his life, although he didn’t appreciate it at the time. He credited his Army time with disciplining him to apply to Law School, which had always been part of his long-range plans. After being discharged from the Army John returned to the University of Michigan to attend Law School.

Upon receiving his Juris Doctorate law degree, John moved to California to work for North American Aviation, one of the prime NASA contractors for America’s historic Apollo moonshot program. In California John took a brief hiatus from work to get a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from the University of California Berkeley. He then returned to work in the aerospace industry for the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, negotiating contracts for early Mariner Mars Missions.

In 1967 John married Sarah Loiuse Ives, known as Sally. He left his job and they spent a year travelling around the world for their honeymoon. Most of the trip was spent driving around Europe in a VW hatchback, camping and staying in youth hostels, and skiing, during which John broke his leg in the Alps. After leaving Europe, they also visited the Middle East, East Africa, India, Southeast Asia, and Japan. John then returned to the aerospace industry, but inspired by the Perry Mason television series, he eventually left corporate work to hang out his own shingle as an independent lawyer in private practice.

John and Sally had three sons, Adam, Brad, and Derek. John was very involved in their childhood, serving as Nation Chief and Nation Medicine Man in the YMCA Indian Guides youth program, as a youth soccer coach for AYSO, and as a band booster driving them to performances, concerts, and rehearsals for their school music activities.

John ended his career working for the Orange County Law Library in Southern California until ill health forced him to retire. He then moved to Eugene, Oregon, where he was cared for by his son Adam. John was an itinerant writer and spent much of his final years drafting his memoirs and other works of fantasy fiction, of which he was always a fan.