Obituary of John Charles Dickinson

John Dickinson, 81, passed away peacefully at his home in Soquel, California, on February 19, 2025. He is survived by his wife, Nancy Van Natta, her two children and their families, including four grandchildren, his sister, and many close friends and colleagues. John spent his childhood in Glen Ridge, New Jersey. He then earned a BA at Antioch College, followed by an MA in Economics at Rutgers University. During his time at Rutgers, he developed a passion for computers, learning to program in Fortran and creating utility programs for IBM mainframes just for fun. This love for technology led him to a career in the rapidly evolving world of personal computers. John's professional career began as an editor at Ziff Davis’s PC Magazine, where he created PC Magazine Labs, pioneering script and benchmark-based testing methodologies for PC products. His contributions to the editorial field of computing were instrumental, and he held several key positions at Ziff Davis, including Editor-in-Chief of Computer Shopper. In addition to his time at Ziff Davis, John worked in several leadership roles, including VP of Editorial at Curtco-Freedom Group, SVP at eMachines, Editor-in-Chief at Computers in Banking, and Editor-in-Chief of Sun.com while at Sun Microsystems. His most recent role before retirement was in Communications at Juniper Networks. He and his wife, Nancy, moved to Santa Cruz County two decades ago, where they built their forever home near family. While in Santa Cruz, John immersed himself in community, serving on the Board of the Santa Cruz Symphony, and as a member of Rotary and Sons in Retirement. He was a member of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) for over forty years, and he credited the principles of AA with saving his life. In his later years, John found joy in life surrounded by family and friends. He valued his connections with people and deeply appreciated the love and camaraderie that surrounded him. He will be remembered for his kindness, intellectual curiosity, and dedication to the people he loved. There will be a celebration of John’s life at Santa Cruz Memorial Mission Chapel, 1927 Ocean Street Ext. in Santa Cruz, on Friday, March 21st at 2:00 PM PDT. There will also be a zoom link sent to friends far away. In lieu of flowers or gifts, please send any contributions in John's honor to the Santa Cruz Symphony at www.santacruzsymphony.org.