John Gordon Sutter
Son of John O. Sutter | San Francisco, CA
Dr. John Orval Sutter
January 13, 1926 – March 16, 2019
John was born and raised in University City (a suburb of St. Louis), Missouri, by Orval C. Sutter and Anne Bernat Sutter. In 1944 he began studies at nearby Washington University before being drafted into the Army at the age of 18 and serving as a combat engineer in World War II. On March 7, 1945, U.S. forces captured the heavily damaged Bridge at Remagen, the last remaining bridge over the Rhine River in Germany, after it failed to collapse from demolitions. Over the next two days, as U.S. forces raced to secure a foothold on the other side and the German military shot at, bombed, and used floating mines to bring it down, John worked to keep the bridge operational, alternately making repairs and running for cover. On March 9th, a massive round fired from a railroad gun, miles away, landed nearby. He felt as if struck by a sledge hammer, as shrapnel embedded in his jaw. After medical evacuation, he received a Purple Heart and Bronze Star with “V” for valor. Without doubt, the capture and maintenance of an intact bridge over the Rhine shortened the war.
John O. Sutter | 1944
9th Armored Division | 1945
Surabaya, Indonesia | 1955
After recovering from that wound, John rejoined the 9th Armored Engineers, who were advancing quickly across Germany. The war in Europe ended in May, and John subsequently served in military government in Northern Bavaria and then Munich, before discharge in 1946 as a staff sergeant, and a return to St. Louis. In 1948, John earned his first two degrees (B.S. in Public Administration, and M.A. in Economics and History) at Washington University. He then joined the U.S. Foreign Service, accepting a Vice Consul assignment that others feared, to go to China in 1949 as the communists were overrunning the country. While “red” forces closed in, he helped shut down the American Consulate in Shanghai, and supported evacuations. He remained in the city, under communist control, until 1950. His next assignment was to open a consulate in Surabaya, Indonesia. John later received area studies and specialized training on the Indonesian language at Yale. He then served as Economic Officer in the American Embassy in Jakarta.
John left the Foreign Service to pursue a PhD at Cornell University, where he met a wonderful woman, Doris, whom he married in Manhattan in 1956. Doris received an M.A. in modern Chinese history and international relations, and John completed his PhD in 1959, with a dissertation on political influences on the Indonesian economy. He then joined The Asia Foundation, a nonprofit international development organization headquartered in San Francisco. John and Doris celebrated their “second honeymoon” by driving to California.
During the Sixties the couple lived in Malaya, which became Malaysia, including two years in Sabah on the island of Borneo. They had two children, Ann Wellwood and John Gordon. Over three decades, John served as Representative for The Asia Foundation in Malaysia (8 years), Indonesia (4 years) and Pakistan (1978-1979), as well as in home office positions in San Francisco while living in San Rafael. His work helped many Asian countries modernize.
For the rest of his life, John pursued the strengthening of democratic global institutions and the establishment of enforceable world law, including serving as President of the World Federalist Association of Northern California and then the Democratic World Federalists.
John was passionate about stamp collecting, the St. Louis Cardinals baseball team, playing tennis, swimming in his pool, gun control, ending war, and following international events. He did extensive genealogical work, compiling a detailed family tree going back to the 1500s, including eight generations of John Sutters in the U.S.
John and Doris particularly loved to travel, with John visiting approximately 65 countries. Foreign adventures were many, such as helping Lithuanians and Afghans flee communism for life in the U.S., sailing through a typhoon, climbing the hot ash Krakatau volcano in Indonesia, and taking a horse-caravan trek in the mountains of Kashmir.
John passed away in San Rafael at the age of 93, preceded by Doris in 2016. He is survived by Ann (Mark), John G. (Susan), grandchildren Carolyn and John T., and sister Nancy Axford. At John’s request no service will be held. His remains will be buried in St. Louis. Donations may be made in his memory to the Brain and Behavior Research Foundation or your favorite charity.
Doris Frances Ake | John’s Wife
Dr. John O. Sutter | 2015
John Sutter Last meeting with DWF | 2019
DWF News
Drat ..
I’ll see him behind that desk in our San Francisco office, around which a preferred New World was spinning, as long as I live. Perhaps a portrait of him the size of the other four should be made ..
Thank you, John, for all your good work. It was inspiring to know you and to experience the depth of your commitment and the breath of your knowledge.
Wonderful items from you, man. I have be aware your stuff prior to
and you are simply extremely fantastic. I actually like what you have bought here, certainly like what you are stating and the way in which through which you assert it.
You make it entertaining and you continue to take care of to stay it smart.
I cant wait to read much more from you. This is really a great web site.
I’m impressed, I have to admit. Rarely do I encounter a blog
that’s both equally educative and entertaining, and let me tell you,
you’ve hit the nail on the head. The problem is something that too few people
are speaking intelligently about. I’m very happy I came across this in my hunt for something regarding
this.
Just desire to say your article is as astonishing.
The clarity in your post is just spectacular and i can assume you’re an expert on this subject.
Fine with your permission allow me to grab your feed to keep updated with forthcoming post.
Thanks a million and please continue the rewarding work.
Hi, its fastidious article on the topic of media print, we all
know media is a wonderful source of data.
Appreciate the recommendation. Will try it out.
This site was… how do you say it? Relevant!! Finally
I have found something that helped me. Thanks!
Howdy! I’m at work browsing your blog from my new iphone
3gs! Just wanted to say I love reading your blog and look forward to all your posts!
Keep up the outstanding work!
Peculiar article, just what I was looking for.
Hello there I am so grateful I found your webpage, I really found
you by error, while I was researching on Aol for something else,
Nonetheless I am here now and would just like to say thank you for a marvelous post and a all round exciting blog (I
also love the theme/design), I don’t have time to read it all at the
moment but I have bookmarked it and also added in your RSS feeds, so when I have time I will be back
to read a lot more, Please do keep up the great
job.
I’ve been surfing online more than 3 hours today, yet I never found any
interesting article like yours. It is pretty worth
enough for me. In my opinion, if all web owners and bloggers made good content as you
did, the web will be much more useful than ever before.
hello there and thank you for your info – I have definitely picked up something new from right here.
I did however expertise several technical points
using this website, since I experienced to reload the web site
many times previous to I could get it to load correctly.
I had been wondering if your hosting is OK? Not that I am complaining, but
slow loading instances times will often affect your placement in google
and can damage your high-quality score if ads and marketing with Adwords.
Anyway I am adding this RSS to my email and can look out for much more of
your respective fascinating content. Ensure that you update
this again soon.
Can I simply just say what a relief to find an individual
who truly understands what they are talking about on the web.
You definitely understand how to bring a problem to light and make it important.
A lot more people must check this out and understand this side of the story.
I was surprised that you aren’t more popular given that you surely possess the gift.
First of all I would like to say excellent blog! I had a quick question which I’d like to ask if you don’t mind.
I was curious to know how you center yourself and clear your head prior to writing.
I have had a hard time clearing my thoughts in getting my thoughts out.
I do enjoy writing but it just seems like the first 10 to 15 minutes are lost just trying to figure out how to begin. Any ideas or tips?
Appreciate it!
Can you tell us more about this? I’d want to find
out some additional information.
Highly energetic blog, I loved that a lot. Will there be a part 2?
Hi there to every single one, it’s genuinely a good for me to go to see this web page,
it includes valuable Information.
You’re so cool! I don’t think I have read something like that before.
So great to discover somebody with some original thoughts on this topic.
Seriously.. many thanks for starting this up.
This web site is one thing that’s needed on the internet,
someone with some originality!
Im obliged for the blog.Much thanks again. Cool.
Write more, thats all I have to say. Literally, it seems as though you relied on the video to make your point.
You definitely know what youre talking about, why throw away your intelligence on just posting videos to your site when you could be giving us
something enlightening to read?
Really enjoyed this blog. Awesome.