John James Obituary, Death – Since October of the prior year, John James, our well-known Secretary who had been serving in his post for a very long time, had been struggling with an illness. John James had been in his position for a very long time. It is with a heavy heart that I have to break the news to you that John James has passed away; doing so causes me to feel an overwhelming sense of guilt and a tremendous weight in my chest. Throughout the course of the preceding calendar year, he had been battling a number of different ailments. John was a patient at the hospital on the 21st of January 2023 when he passed away. His passing occurred in the wee hours of the morning on a Saturday. His passing away took place on a Saturday.
For those of us who knew John, we remember him as an active and outgoing guy who took great pride in his membership in the Newham Chamber of Commerce and who took great pleasure in tracking the progression of the organization during the twenty years that he worked there. John participated in the Newham Chamber of Commerce for a full two decades as a member. Before John joined our Chamber of Commerce, he had a career as a writer and editor for a wide variety of newspapers that were located all over east London before he became a member of our organization.
Because of this, he has always been able to keep a careful check on everything that has been going on. As a direct consequence of this, he has always had this ability. It was a great pleasure to work with him for the past ten years since he was always receptive to novel concepts and made the most of each and every opportunity to put those concepts into action. It was a wonderful experience for me to work beside him for the approximately ten years that we were both employed there. On the occasion of her husband’s passing, we would like to offer our most heartfelt sympathies to his wife Lesley, whom we are aware John has shown a great deal of concern for in the most recent years.
John was a devout guy who was a supporter of St. Peter-in-the-Forest Church in Waltham Forest. At the church, he would actively support all activities, and for the larger community in which they resided, he would support the church as a whole. Waltham Forest was the location of the church known as St. Peter in the Forest.