Dr. John "Jack" Doneth, 85, of Sun City Center, Florida, died Tuesday, December 13, 2022.

Jack was born August 24, 1937, in Manistee, Michigan, the son (and favorite child) of Vern and Agnes Doneth. He graduated from Big Rapids High School and went on to earn his B.S. degree in Marketing from Ferris State College, his M.A. degree in Education from Michigan State University and his Ed.D. degree from Northern Illinois University.

Jack taught for eight years in the Grand Rapids and Grosse Pointe Public Schools. In 1968, he returned to Big Rapids, MI, to join the faculty at Ferris State. He served the University in several key faculty and administrative positions including being named Ferris's first Ombudsman and then Director of Teacher Education for the School of Education and Learning Resources. In 1982, Jack moved from administration back into the classroom. He would conclude his 31 years at Ferris teaching the capstone level marketing courses in the College of Business until his retirement in 1999.

Jack was passionate about giving of his time and talents in his community. He served on the Big Rapids Board of Education for eight years including as president, vice president and treasurer. He coached Little League baseball and girls' youth softball. He was very involved in his Church serving as an usher, a member of the Knights of Columbus, and on various finance committees. Jack briefly served in the US Army at Fort Knox during the Cuban Missile Crisis. He loved his breakfast meetups with friends, his dogs, and firing up the grill. He was a big sports fan of his Detroit, Ferris State, and Michigan State teams.

Jack is survived by Scott (Liz), Brad, Kimberly (David), and M. Amedeo Tumolillo; 4 grandchildren, 10 nieces/nephews, his "much older" sister, Nancy Engemann, and sister-in-laws Nadine Jakobowski and Lorraine Jakobowski.

He is preceded in death by his parents, and wives, Laura (m: 1966/d: 1992 - mother of Scott, Brad and Kim) and Susan (m: 1997/d: 2020).

The Memorial Mass and celebration of Jack Doneth's life will be held at Prince of Peace Catholic Church (Sun City Center, FL) on Saturday, January 21, 2023, at 10am. Memorial contributions may be made in Jack's name to LifePath Hospice of Tampa ( https://lifepathhospice.chaptershealth.org/GeneralDonation ) and the USO ( https://www.uso.org/donate/memorial-donation ).



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