John Kreymborg Hopley

John was born on May 22, 1934, in Omaha, Nebraska to Russell James and Helen Joyce Hopley. He received Bachelor of Science degrees in Electrical Engineering and Mathematics from Iowa State University in 1956, where he was a member of the Golf Team and Phi Gamma Delta fraternity. John met his future wife, Carolyn Schaller, on a blind date, at Iowa State University. They were married in 1959 at First Presbyterian Church in Storm Lake, Iowa.

After graduating from Iowa State University, John served in the United States Army Signal Corp, achieving the rank of Captain. He was the Senior Control Officer stationed in Heidelberg, West Germany, and was responsible for overseeing the vast telecommunications networks that connected the field and command units across Europe.

John was Honorably Discharged in 1962.

John built a distinguished 40-year career in the telecommunications industry, starting at New York Telephone Company which, through a series of mergers, ultimately turned into NYNEX and finally Verizon Communications where John retired as Corporate Vice President of Economic Development, Industry Relations, and Regulatory Affairs. A forward-thinking leader, he helped guide the company through a period of significant technological and structural (deregulation) change in the industry and pioneered many of the major new and revolutionary rate structures used later by most of the “Bell” system. Upon retirement, John started his own consulting firm, Telecom Strategies International, Inc., and advised several foreign governments and telecommunications agencies on a broad range of costing, economic and policy matters. He also served as President of the Advanced Information Corporation which was responsible for advising European governments on deregulation.

John served as a Visiting Scholar-In-Residence at the New York University School of Law, Communications Center and on the Advisory Boards for graduate telecommunications programs at Michigan State University and the University of Connecticut. He was also a founding member, lecturer, and member of the Advisory Board of the Columbia Institute of Tele-Information at the Graduate School of Business, Columbia University, where he authored and co-authored numerous papers. Founded in 1983 at Columbia University, the Institute is the first research center for communications economics, management and policy established at a U.S. management school. John was contributing partner to the Office of Applied Complexity at the Santa Fe Institute, which helps the world access actionable insights through scientific research. John was also a guest lecturer at the Doctoral Program of Economics at the University of Paris, France and the Ministry of Post and Telecommunications of the People’s Republic of China.

Beyond his professional life, John was an avid astronomer with telescopes in Greenwich and in Colorado where the house they built is in the shape of a comet. He loved observing distant galaxies and stars and his fascination with the cosmos reflected his deep curiosity about the world and our place in it. He also loved taking his children skiing in Vermont and New York. John enjoyed traveling internationally – Africa, Central Asia, China, Europe, Japan, and the Middle East. He enjoyed spending time in Colorado and New York City with his family. John will be remembered for his intellect, humility, integrity, and deep sense of purpose. To his family he was always full of love, gentle and patient. And he could fix anything.

John is survived by his wife of 66 years, Carolyn, son John (and Ramya) Hopley, son George (and Elizabeth) Hopley, daughter Gretchen (and Jill) Hopley-Romig and seven grandchildren: John Hopley, Shanthi Hopley, Anjali Hopley, Alexandra Hopley, Caroline Hopley, Georgia Hopley, and Tennyson Hopley-Romig.

John will be dearly missed by all who had the privilege to know him.

To honor John’s life, family and friends will gather at a time and date to be announced.

For more information or to place an online condolence, https://www.leopgallaghergreenwich.com/