John A. Hooper, a descendant of an early San Francisco pioneer family, died of natural causes Jan. 17 at The Sequoias retirement community in Portola Valley. He was 89.
A distinguished lawyer, he served in Paris from 1957 to 1967 under Presidents Eisenhower, Kennedy and Johnson as a U.S. Defense Department representative, North Atlantic and Mediterranean Areas, and defense adviser with the diplomatic rank of minister to the U.S. Mission to NATO.
After he and his wife, Trish, moved back from Paris, they settled into the family’s Mountain Home Ranch in Woodside, where they lived until moving to The Sequoias in the mid-1990s.
Mr. Hooper was born in San Francisco. He graduated from the Thacher School in Ojai in 1934, received a bachelor’s degree in political science from Stanford University in 1938, and a law degree from Harvard Law School in 1941. He served in the U.S. Army from 1942 to 1946. In 1943 he married Trish Lowrey.
For 10 years, from 1947 to 1957, Mr. Hooper practiced law in San Francisco with the firm of Pillsbury Madison & Sutro.
From 1968 until his death, Mr. Hooper devoted himself to charitable and community organizations. He served as president of the Auxiliary of the University of California Hospital in San Francisco, president of Planned Parenthood of Northern California, and president of the Board of Delegates for Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California.
He was a member of the Woodside Planning Commission from 1973 until 1980, serving as chairman from 1979 to 1980. He was a 50-year member of the Pacific Union Club and a past president of the Cypress Lawn Cemetery Association.
Mr. Hooper is survived by his wife, Trish, of Portola Valley; his children, John C. Hooper of Point Arena, Margo H. Blair of Chicago, Lawrence Hooper of Twisp, Washington, and Helen McCloskey of Rumsey, California; and five grandchildren.
A private memorial will be held. Donations in his name may be made to Planned Parenthood, The Thacher School, or Peninsula Humane Society.
