WILLIG, John Jerome, 87, died January 30th in Sarasota, Florida. He was born in St. Paul Minnesota. November 19, 1917 and came to Sarasota in 1984 from Kettering, Ohio.

He was a Senior Civilian in the Department of Defense at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base and graduated from the University of Dayton. He served in the United States Air Force from 1940 till 1951 and achieved the rank of Major.

He was a former president of the Kiwanis Club of Kettering and twice the Lieutenant Governor of Ohio. He was the past president of the Dayton Amateur Radio Association where he founded the Hamvention, the world's largest ham radio convention, and was an active enthusiast with the call W8ACE.

He was a member of the Church of the Palms, Presbyterian.

He is survived by his wife, Ruth of Sarasota, a daughter, Susan Fister of Lexington, Kentucky, and two sons, John of Boulder, Colorado and James, of Sarasota, three grandchildren and two great grandchildren and sister, June Miller of St. Paul, Minnesota.

Services will be held at the Church of the Palms Chapel at 3224 Bee Ridge Road in Sarasota on Friday, February, 18th at 2pm. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations are made to the Alzheimer's Association or Hospice of SW Florida.