John “Jack” T. Bailey, 93, died peacefully on June 29, 2020, in Chautauqua, New York, at the summer home he shared with Kay Bailey, his wife of 65 years.
Jack was born in Cleveland on Dec. 2, 1926, to Helen Moyle Bailey and Theodore Litchfield Bailey. He served in the U.S. Coast Guard from 1944 to 1945, then graduated from Harvard in 1950 with a B.A. in English.
In 1951, Bailey joined The New York Times, where he became manager of printing and distribution of the newspaper’s European edition. During his six-year tenure there, he lived in New York City and traveled widely in Europe and India. After a three-year stint with the public relations department at American Cyanamid Company, Bailey returned to his native Cleveland in 1961 to join the public relations firm Edward Howard & Co. as partner. He became chief executive in 1970, and retired from the firm in 1986.
Bailey was active in civic affairs, and served on the boards of The Greater Cleveland Growth Association, Cleveland Public Radio, Northeast Jazz Society, the Cleveland Center for Contemporary Art (now MOCA), Chautauqua Institution and Wells College. He also served as president of the First Unitarian Church of Cleveland, and chairman of the Nature Center of Shaker Lakes.
As a lifelong student of jazz, Bailey taught jazz history for years at both Chautauqua and in Sanibel, Florida. He was an avid sailor and raced one-design sailboats for decades on Chautauqua Lake. After raising their family in Cleveland, Jack and Kay moved to Sanibel, then to the Shell Point Retirement Community in Fort Myers, Florida. Jack and Kay were world travelers, visiting and photographing more than 70 countries, including New Guinea, Yemen and Nepal.
Jack was predeceased by his wife, Katherine G. Bailey; and is survived by his son, Theodore G. Bailey; his daughter, Mary K. Bailey; his son-in-law, Toby S. Welles; and his grandchildren, Clara S. Bailey, Helen T. Bailey, Eric T. Bailey, and Henry B. Welles.
In lieu of flowers, please send a donation to the Chautauqua Watershed Conservancy at 413 N. Main Street, Jamestown, NY, 14701. Jack was active in the CWC’s fundraising efforts to preserve the health and beauty of Chautauqua Lake for generations to come.
