John V. Cleary, Jr.
Age: 88 – Boynton Beach, Fla.
John V. Cleary, Jr., father-in-law of National Life’s Shelia Cleary, who served from 1983 to 1993, as President and Chief Executive of Green Mountain Power (GMP) in Vermont before his retirement, died peacefully in his sleep at his home in Florida on October 27th with his family present. He was 88 years oldMr. Cleary came to Vermont to join GMP in 1977 as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, after a 23-year career at Consolidated Edison in New York City. Before leaving Con Edison, Mr. Cleary had advanced to Vice President responsible for the Staten Island and Brooklyn Divisions.
Mr. Cleary and his family left the New York City area and one of the largest investor-owned electric utilities in the nation for GMP, one of the smallest. When asked to describe the difference in working for a large utility serving millions of customers to leading GMP with less than 100,000 customers his answer was always the same: “There is no difference except that the number of zeroes are fewer.”
As CEO of GMP, Mr. Cleary is credited with restoring customer and financial confidence in the state’s then second largest utility. By the time of Mr. Cleary’s retirement GMP’s customer approval rating had improved from 36 to 90 percent and the company had the lowest electric rates of any investor-owned utility in New England. Mr. Cleary also initiated a focus on environmental stewardship in hydroelectric power generation that continues strongly today, more than 23 years after his retirement.
Mr. Cleary was born June 14, 1928 in Bronx, N.Y. He was graduated from Manhattan College with a degree in Civil Engineering, and pursued graduate studies at NYU in Nuclear Engineering. He served in the U.S. Army in Korea in 1951. The Atomic Energy Commission licensed Mr. Cleary to operate the nation’s first commercial nuclear power plant, and he took a temporary assignment with the U. S. Navy nuclear program to support its test reactors. Later in his career, Mr. Cleary was active in electric industry boards and committees, including Chair of the New England Electric Council, and the Research Advisory Committee of the Electric Power Research Institute.
After his retirement, Mr. Cleary divided his time between Boynton Beach, Florida, and Charlotte, Vermont, where he pursued his life-long passion for the game of golf. He served as President of the Quail Ridge Country Club in Florida, and was a member of the Burlington Country Club, North Country Sportsman Club, and Underhill Gun Club in Vermont; and the Ocean Club of Florida.
Mr. Cleary is survived by his wife of 60 years, Ann E. Farley Cleary, as well as their five children: John V. Cleary III, and his spouse, Shelia; Eileen A. Stroupe and her spouse, David; Patricia M. Rachlin and her spouse, Paul; Karen A. DeWitt and her spouse, Scott, and Mary Ellen Newcomer and her spouse, Christopher, and 16 grandchildren. He is predeceased by his parents John V. and Lillian Cleary, and his brother Thomas J. Cleary.
A funeral Mass is scheduled for Saturday, Nov. 12 at 11 a.m. at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Church in Charlotte, Vt., with burial immediately afterwards.
In lieu of flowers donations may be made to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (www.jdrf.org) or Promise in Brevard (www.promiseinbrevard.com/donate).