John V. Luck

Luck John V. Luck, 76, formerly of Minneapolis, died unexpectedly on Tuesday, September 17, 2002 on a trans-Atlantic flight. A native of Indiana, he was married to Carolyn Luck. Mr. Luck served as a bombardier in the United States Naval Reserve. He was a graduate of Purdue University, holding B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees. As a prominent food scientist, he was with General Foods and Durkee Foods from 1960 to 1970. He then joined General Mills in 1970 as Vice President in charge of Research Operations at the James Ford Bell Technical Center. Even then it had one of the best libraries and machine shops in the industry as well as enormous analytical chemistry laboratories all to support a broad range of food research and product development. Mr. Luck's responsibilities were to develop new products, to create new businesses, and to keep the present ones updated. He traveled widely for his job, which included inspecting plants in Europe. When he retired in 1987, he was the Senior Vice President of Science and Technology. He was extremely well regarded at the company for having an outstanding knowledge of the food industry and its many technical aspects. He was also a member of the Board of Directors and the Executive Committee of the Minneapolis Science Museum for four years. After retirement, Mr. Luck was a consultant on projects in his field in Japan and Taiwan. Mr. Luck is scheduled to receive the Man of the Year Award in Science from Purdue University in 2003. In 1989, Mr. Luck moved to Savannah, Georgia and immediately became active in the community. He established the first independent local chapter of Junior Achievement, replacing the Jacksonville branch that had formerly operated there. For several years he recruited volunteer teachers for economics classes and for four years taught weekly at Windsor Forest High School. He belonged to the Golden ``K'' of Skidaway Island. He served on the Boards of Armstrong Atlantic State University and the Savannah Symphony and was a 12-year member of the Board of Trustees for the Telfair Museum of Art. He was president of the Board for three years. His strong leadership brought Executive Director, Dr. Diane Lesko, to the Telfair and to Savannah. During his presidency the decision was made to build a new art museum on Telfair Square. Mr. Luck's leadership remained constant when he served as Chairman of the New Building Committee. He was instrumental in the selection of internationally-known architect Moshe Safdie, believing that Safdie's design would achieve significant recognition for Savannah and be a testament to the city's architectural legacy. Mr. Luck was a responsible and caring community leader, an avid sportsman, an enthusiastic traveler, a gardener, an art collector, and a loyal friend and family man. Survivors: his wife, Carolyn McConnell Luck of Savannah; daughters, Nancy Scheffey of Hershey, PA, Sharon St. Clair of Miami Lakes, FL, and Katherine Raiola of Victoria, MN; grandchildren, Karen Paulus and Christopher Post of Pennsylvania and Rachel, Anthony, and Talia Raiola of Minnesota; great-grandchildren, Mathew, Lauren, and Jessica Paulus and Nathan Post of Pennsylvania; sister, Mae Bailey of Dunedin, FL; step-children, Kelley Klawiter of Loveland, CO and Casey Conner of Dallas, TX; nephew, Larry Luck of Los Alamos, NM. Funeral Services held 10:30 am Monday, September 23 at Skidway United Methodist Church, 54 Diamond Causeway, Savannah. Burial services will be private. Remembrances: in lieu of flowers, the family requests that a donation be made to your favorite Savannah charity. Fox & Weeks Funeral Directors

Published on September 25, 2002