John Hayek

JOHN HAYEK

Iowa City

John William Hayek, 73, of Iowa City, died Aug. 31, 2014, of cancer at home surrounded by his family.

John was a descendant of early immigrants from Bohemia who settled in Goosetown around 1870. He was born in Iowa City on Jan. 25, 1941, to Brigadier General Will Jennings Hayek, an attorney, and Marjorie Kurtz Hayek, an artist. He attended University Laboratory Schools from preschool through high school, graduating in 1959.

At age 11, John contracted polio, which permanently affected his left arm and precluded athletics and military service. He turned his attention to his studies and to high school debate, student government and photography.

John graduated cum laude from Harvard College in 1963 and from Harvard Law School in 1966. He turned down an offer from a Wall Street law firm and returned to Iowa City to join the practice his father started in 1926. He practiced law until earlier this summer.

On Dec. 21, 1968, John married Patricia Mollie Hess at Danforth Chapel on the university campus. A year later, they moved into what is still their home in the north end of Iowa City.

John served as first assistant county attorney for Johnson County from 1967 to 1970, special counsel for urban renewal to the City of Iowa City during the 1970s and 1980s, and Iowa City city attorney from 1974 to 1981. In his private practice, he was a gifted trial attorney and a competent general practitioner with multiple areas of expertise. Among his proudest accomplish-ments was In re Marriage of Stamp, a 1980 divorce case in which the Iowa Supreme Court agreed that child support should be adjusted to keep pace with inflation.

John was a fellow in the Iowa Academy of Trial Lawyers and certified by the National Board of Trial Advocacy. He was a member of the Iowa Supreme Court Grievance Commission, Sixth Judicial Nominating Commission, Iowa Supreme Court Family Law Committee, Sixth Judicial Bench-Bar Liaison Committee, Sixth Judicial District Caseflow Management Committee, Johnson County Bar Association, Iowa State Bar Association, American Bar Association, Iowa Defense Counsel Association, Iowa Academy of Trust and Estate Counsel and Iowa State Bar Association Title Standards Committee. He was an Emeritus Master of the Dean Mason Ladd American Inns of Court.

John served the community in other capacities, including as president of Iowa City Noon Rotary and as a board member of the National Czech & Slovak Museum & Library in Cedar Rapids, Johnson County Military Affairs Committee, Johnson County Historical Society and Visiting Nurse Association. He was a lifelong member of the Unitarian Universalist Society of Iowa City and held leadership positions within the church.

For decades John enjoyed weekends with Pat at their cabin in McGregor, where, with enthusiasm but limited success, he fished and hunted ducks on the Mississippi River with his sons and son-in-law. He was an avid reader and a talented photog-rapher. He enjoyed long family road trips and travel through Europe by train.

He loved his family, his community, and his profession and was an example to all who knew him.

John is survived by Pat; their three children: Grace of Glencoe, Ill. (husband, Richard, and children, William and Eleanor); Matthew of Iowa City (wife, Mary Kate, and children, Greta, Joseph and Andrew); and Andrew of Glencoe, Ill. (wife, Nicole, and children, John, James and Michael); his brother, Peter (wife, Julie); and other relatives.

He was preceded in death by his parents and two half siblings.

A visitation will be held at Lensing Funeral Service, Iowa City, on Thursday, Sept. 4, from 4 until 7 p.m. A funeral service will be at First United Methodist Church on Friday, Sept. 5, at 11 a.m., with the Rev. Steven Protzman officiating. The family will hold a private committal service at Oakland Cemetery.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Iowa Legal Aid or Iowa City Hospice.

The family is grateful for the community's many acts of kindness during John's illness.

Online condolences may be sent to the family at www.lensingfuneral.com