Johan Leendert van Vessem

Johan (Hans) L. van Vessem passed away at home, peacefully in his sleep on January 17, 2023. He was 91 years old. He was born in Rotterdam, The Netherlands and spent the years during World War II with his mother and two sisters while his father was away at sea. Johan made his first trip to the US at 17 while working as a deckhand on a Holland America ship with his father who was the Chief Engineer. Life at sea wasn’t for him, however, so after serving in the Dutch Air Force, he attended Utrecht University, graduated as a Chemical Engineer and began working in the oil industry. He spent most of his career with Caltex Petroleum Corporation and became an American citizen in 1978. While working, he and Christina, his best friend and wife of 57 years, travelled and lived at various times in The Netherlands, Germany, the US and England. They spent many happy years in Massapequa, NY where he commuted into NYC on the Long Island Railroad. He finished his career as Managing Director of Caltex International Technical Center (CITC), a global troubleshooting organization, in Sydney Australia in 1996. They retired to Fallbrook, CA where they settled into their dream home. Years later they would downsize and move to la Jolla, CA where he remained until his recent, final, move to Sarasota, FL. In the evenings, he enjoyed a glass of red wine, classical music on the radio and a large puzzle spread out on the dining room table. He and Christina would go for drives wherever they lived always ending up at lunch at restaurants they discovered and later shared with their family. His first “big” American car was a Ford LTD that he loved so much he had it shipped from Massapequa to Woking, England during one of the moves. Their explorations resulted in many interesting trips down narrow country lanes in rural England with Christina navigating. In la Jolla, he would sit on his balcony overlooking the Pacific Ocean. He was not at all fond of the surfers on their plankjes, but he loved to see the ships go by and watch the planes flying over the sea. He loved the Mets and the Islanders and usually spent the month of July, wherever he was in the world, enjoying the Tour de France and Wimbledon, but his favorite sport was always soccer which he played as a young man. He was a lifelong Feyenoord supporter, enjoyed English Premier League matches and rooted for The Netherlands in the most recent World Cup. His sense of humor was sharp until the end He was predeceased by his wife Christina and his two sisters, Hendrika “Henny” Schriel and Arendina “Dinny” Pijselman. He is survived by his son Maxim, daughter-in-law Margaret, his son Paul and his son Ian, his grandchildren Mollie, Owen and Tomas and several nieces and nephews in The Netherlands. A private celebration of his and Christina’s lives will be held at a later date. Truste Hans. We miss you.

Johan Leendert van Vessem

January 8, 1932 - January 17, 2023