[NU Sports] John DeGroat

[NEONRye at aol.com]

Dear Fellow List Members,
 
I have some sad news to report.  Sandy Sacks, the "Godfather" of the  NU 
Club of New York, and a former Wildcat lineman (in the 1950's), as well as my  
good friend, and a longtime friend of John DeGroat, forwarded to me an  
email from John's son, Carl, with John's obituary (which I am "pasting"  
below).  I then wrote an email to Carl, expressing my sympathy and  informing him 
of John's importance to the List and of my feelings about John's  passing.  
Carl, in turn, graciously wrote back and provided details about  John's 
untimely loss, which I will also share with all of you (below).  
 
John was someone who one minute could infuriate me with a stray comment in  
an email, while then putting a smile on my face in the next paragraph of 
the  same email.  From time to time he would email me privately (in response 
to  one of my emails), suggesting (always in a friendly, mentoring kind of 
manner)  that I read such and such book or article, if I hadn't already done 
so.  He  will be sorely missed on this list--for his passionate devotion to 
NU and  Wildcat sports (except for baseball--which as all of know--he wanted 
dropped,  since he felt the University would never commit sufficient 
resources to the team  to permit it to compete effectively), as well as for his 
opinions on many  relevant issues, relevant and otherwise.  He was always a 
straight  shooter, and you knew where he stood--and that is a trait that I 
value very  much.   
 
Here's the Obituary:
 
 
John A. DeGroat’s  Obituary 
DeGroat, John Albert died September 25, 2009.  Born  December 18,  1931, he 
was the husband of Gail B. DeGroat.  He is survived by two sons, Carl of  
Purcellville, VA and Eric of Bromma, Sweden plus four grandsons, Axel, John  
(Jack), Nick and August and two granddaughters, Jackie and Elsa.  He was 
pre-deceased by his sister  Jacqueline DiPiero and his father and mother Dr. 
Albert DeGroat and Andre`  DeGroat, all from the Detroit area. A graduate of 
Northwestern University and the Wharton Graduate School, he spent his career 
in various  corporate financial positions including, investor relations with 
GTE and later  as a consultant in that field before retiring.  He served in 
the US Army’s Counter  Intelligence Corps during the Cold War from 
1955-1957, much of that time with  the 66th CIC Detachment in Berlin, Germany. 
He  thoroughly enjoyed traveling with his wife Gail as well as collecting 
antiques.  Pheasant hunting and clay target shooting with friends were 
favorite  pastimes.  He loved watching  Northwestern  University football and  
basketball much to the chagrin of Gail, a Penn State graduate. He was also a 
life long  fan of the Detroit Tigers and Detroit Lions. 
A memorial  service will be held later. Donations may be made to the 
Otterbein United  Methodist Church 647 Forge Road Carlisle, PA 17015 or to Hospice 
of Central  Pennsylvania, PO Box  266 Enola, PA 17025 or to the 
Northwestern University  Wild Cat Fund in Evanston,  Illinois. 
****************************************************************************
*** 
And here's the Email from Carl De Groat: 
The passing of my dad was actually a surprise.   He complained of a sore 
throat about a month ago and it just would not go  away.  It hurt so much, he 
really was not eating and as a result, probably  got a little weak.  About 
two weeks ago he fell reaching for the chain on  the ceiling fan and could 
not get himself back up.  Gail had to call an  ambulance and they took him to 
the hospital.  There were no injuries from  the fall, but he told them of 
his sore throat.  He was very weak, so they  admitted him to the hospital.  No 
one could figure out what was  wrong.  The doctors assumed it was just some 
virus.  His tonsils were  swollen but that was it. I visited on the 16th or 
17th and he was in a lot of  pain and could barely speak.  The doctors all 
assumed he would get  better.  Finally an ENT saw him and even he could not 
figure out what was  up.  He did a CT Scan of his neck and still saw 
nothing.  The doctor  ended up sedating my dad so he could go in and clean up my 
dad's throat to get a  better look.  Turned out he had cancer of the lymph 
nodes.  I was able  to see him on Thursday, but by then he could not speak.  I 
spent the night  with him at the hospital and fortunately was with him when 
died on Friday  afternoon. 
The hospice people were wonderful while my dad was  in the hospital.  They 
are the ones who instructed the doctors and nurses  on how to care for my 
dad and to make sure he was comfortable.  They  checked in on him everyday and 
answered all of Gail's questions.  The  hospice nurses explained what to 
expect as he slipped away.  My dad donated  his body to the Hershey Medical 
Center and the hospice folks even made all the  arrangements for the 
transportation of my dad's body. 
May he rest in peace, 
Paul Levinson