John Abraham Mattis July 29, 1917 – April 26, 2010 John Mattis grew up in Oakland, CA and attended the University of California in the class of 1941. His education was interrupted by WWII and he served as First Lieutenant in the Army 558th Ordnance Tank Division in the Pacific Theatre. Following the war, he returned to Cal and graduated with a degree in Economics. He later worked in purchasing at Bechtel Corp. for several years, and then became the Purchasing Agent for the City of Berkeley, CA. In 1958 he relocated to San Diego became the Purchasing Agent for the City of San Diego. As Purchasing Agent, he was Director of the department, which in addition to the purchasing function, supervised three storerooms and a print shop, opened bids, prepared contracts for all construction jobs, and after City Council approval was responsible for the signing of the contracts. Those were exciting times, as San Diego grew to over 400 square miles in area. During his tenure they built many new facilities, including a new City Hall, Civic Theater, Convention Hall, Sewage Collection system, Treatment Plant, and the Qualcomm Stadium where the San Diego Chargers play. He held this position until his retirement in 1980. He was a Certified Purchasing manager (CPM) and served as the president of CAPPO in 1968 and Vice President of NAPM (now ISM). He was married to Margaret Oakley of Seattle, and they raised five children, Jack Mattis of McKinney, Texas, Margaret Thompson of Lakeside, CA, Mary Hammond of Mountain View, CA, GeorgeAnne Ries of Portland, Oregon and Kathleen Mattis of St. Louis, Missouri. From his children, He also leaves twelve grandchildren and one great grandchild.