Gary J Neeleman

He was blessed to die peacefully and be conscious and sharp until nearly his final breath as he bid farewell to his beloved, lifelong and eternal companion, Rose, and over a hundred children, grandchildren, their spouses, and great-grandchildren who were gathered around him at his bedside and by video.

Gary was born on February 4, 1934, in Salt Lake City, Utah. Gary identified strongly with the Dutch heritage he inherited from his father. His grandfather’s young family emigrated to the United States, from The Hague, Netherlands in 1907 and his father was born shortly thereafter. One of Gary’s favorite quotes came from Alex Haley, “In all of us there is a hunger, marrow deep, to know our heritage—to know who we are and where we have come from.”

While a student at South High School in Salt Lake City, Gary met Rose when he was 17, and she became his high school sweetheart. She would remain his close companion for the rest of his life, a total of 74 years—67 of them married. Theirs was always a remarkably close and loving marriage. She was his executive assistant during the last 20 years of his career, and they collaborated as joint authors on 17 books, published with distinguished university and other academic presses—most were published in both English and Portuguese.

Rose faithfully waited for Gary while he served as a missionary for his Church from October 1954 to May 10, 1957 (missions were longer then). They had not seen one another in all that time—they wrote to each other prolifically with Gary sending love poems he composed. They were married and sealed in the Salt Lake LDS Temple 13 days after Gary returned, on May 23,1957.

While a missionary, Gary mastered the Portuguese language to such an extent that he was essentially bilingual. This led to his future career opportunities in his beloved Brazil. Gary was the first one in his family to go to college, earning a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Utah.

In 1958, when he was only 24, United Press International hired Gary to move to Brazil as a foreign correspondent. Gary and Rose took their oldest son John, 4 months old, with them, and the next three children, David, Julie and Pam were born in Brazil.

The family remained in Brazil for nearly seven years. During the time Gary was there, he covered many important stories and got to know famous world leaders. He exclusively interviewed Fidel Castro. He helped UPI break the story that Israel had kidnapped Adolph Eichmann, the former Nazi high official responsible for organizing the Holocaust, who was living secretly in Argentina. Gary got the scoop from a confidential source. Gary personally knew two Brazilian presidents and interviewed Brazil’s soccer king, Pelé.

After Brazil, the family settled in Salt Lake. Gary and Rose were blessed with three additional children born in Utah, Stephen, Lisa, and Mark. Gary was promoted from a reporter to a business executive for UPI, in charge of UPI’s client relationships with media interests all over the American West. In 1983, UPI promoted him to Executive Vice President, and he assumed a similar responsibility for all of Latin America.

Gary never lost touch with his beloved Latin America. While living in Salt Lake, he retained intense contact with several Latin American countries through civic and charitable activities. For sixteen years he was Chairman of the Partners of The Americas, a non-profit agency founded by President Kennedy, and in that capacity, he raised funds for, and organized the construction of, 137 schools for children on the high plains of Bolivia. When he visited the schools, thousands of Bolivian campesinos and their children greeted him and Rose and their colleagues with lavish events. He raised funds for, organized, and acted as the interpreter for sports exchanges including playing tours by American collegiate basketball teams in Brazil. Among them were the Marquette and Michigan State teams that would both win the NCAA basketball national championship the following season.

Gary never forgot his parents’ humble beginnings and the need for education. For decades they made their home available to exchange students from Brazil. Gary’s love and service to Brazil was evident when the US State Department recognized him in 2003 as the Honorary Consul to that country. He served the Brazilian people living in Utah, with Rose’s assistance, for two decades in this role. They maintained an office in downtown SLC at their own expense, wherein they helped thousands of Brazilians with their consulate needs, until Gary fell and broke his hip at age 88. For this service, Utah Governor Spencer Cox, in 2023, declared that December 14th is “Gary Neeleman Day” in the State.

In 1985, Gary left UPI and took a job as a business executive with the Los Angeles Times Syndicate. Rose was his executive assistant. He had a similar job as with UPI, but his territory was the entire world. Gary visited over 150 countries, most of them with Rose. In their retirement Gary and Rose wrote the books they had planned the preceding years.

While work, in whatever form, meant everything to Gary, his first priorities were always first family and then friends. His progeny includes seven children, 35 grandchildren, and 51 great-grandchildren. His importance to all their lives was manifest by the love and outpouring of support they all showed him in his last days. His funny stories and sayings were a constant delight. Gary worked hard to maintain close relationships with childhood friends and other friends all over the world. He understood that genuine friendship requires effort and he remained in constant contact with them. He was a force of nature who positively influenced countless people. He loved life, from the big things like family, to little things like a perfectly cooked sunny side-up egg, and he fought for and savored his life to the very end.

Gary was a faithful member of the Church of Jesus Christ and Latter-Day Saints until the end of his life. He held several church callings including Bishop of the Sandy Hills Ward for 6 years. He and Rose were faithful ministers to many families in their ward and they would call them regularly to check-in until Gary’s most recent hospitalization.

Gary is preceded in death by his parents, John and Ethel Neeleman, his grandson, Stephan Clark, and his great-granddaughter, Mercedes May Monson. He is survived by Rose, his 7 children and their spouses, 34 grandchildren, and 50 great-grandchildren.

Gary’s funeral services will be held on Saturday, August 31, at 2:00pm with a viewing prior from 1pm to 1:45pm at the Sandy Utah Canyon View Stake Center located at 9119 South 1300 East, Sandy, UT 84094. A viewing will also be held on Friday, August 30, from 6-8 pm at the Sandy Utah Canyon View Stake Center. His interment will be at the Wasatch Lawn Memorial Park at 3401 S. Highland Drive, Millcreek, UT 84106 at 4pm on Saturday. More details regarding video streaming of his Saturday service can be found online at: www.dignitymemorial.com. In lieu of flowers of, please consider a donation to LDS Philanthropies: https://philanthropies.churchofjesuschrist.org/humanitarian-services/funds.