John B. Guthrie of Princeton, New Jersey, died peacefully on August 23rd, 2025. He was 85.

John was born on June 1, 1940, in Plainfield, New Jersey, to George Grant Guthrie and Beryl (Haney) Guthrie and grew up in Westfield, New Jersey, where he attended Westfield High School and captained the varsity golf and basketball teams, graduating in 1958. During his senior season, a stand-out quote reveals his tenacious spirit: "Guthrie was a demon in the final minutes. He was all over the court, rebounding, blocking shots, and spearheading a pressing defense. His two foul shots with 40 seconds left gave the Devils a lead they held to the end." His spirit was noticed by Duke University, where he played basketball and was on the golf team and earned a BA in History with a minor in Business, started a small advertising agency with a classmate, and was a member of the ATO fraternity, graduating in 1962.

John's love of golf began in Westfield, where he worked at the Echo Lake Golf Club as a caddy to help earn his way through Duke. His passion took him to golf courses around the world, where he worked as an international marketing executive, and back to his home state of New Jersey. He always preferred to walk, spitting on his Ben Hogan leather grips, and savoring Donald Ross-designed courses.

John's professional career began in New York as a copywriter at J. Walter Thompson advertising agency, followed by several years in Europe in account management at Young & Rubicam International in London, Frankfurt, and Bern, Switzerland, where he headed a new office in charge of international accounts. He studied at the Sorbonne in Paris and the Goethe Institute in Munich, taking courses in French and German, languages he ultimately spoke fluently. After marrying Jill Felsen in 1967, and starting a family in Switzerland, he moved to Princeton and joined Philip Morris International in New York, where he was director of marketing and traveled widely. He returned to Europe with his family in 1984, working at GGK International as Vice President of the Paris agency leading a team serving various clients but principally IBM, famous at the time for their Charlie Chaplin campaign celebrating the new PC.

He continued in marketing, branding, and competitive intelligence after returning to the United States, and was an enthusiastic member of the Princeton Old Guard and relished auditing classes at Princeton University, ever creative and searching to connect people and ideas through collaborative initiatives.

He is survived by Jill Guthrie, his wife of fifty-eight adventurous years, and beloved children, Peter Guthrie and Elizabeth Guthrie, and grandchildren, Sorah and Wren Guthrie, his sisters Nancy Pearce and Wendy Bandrowski, sister in law, Heather Stanton, brothers in law David Felsen and Ned Stanton, cousin Pat Reilly Schoonyoung, and several nieces and nephews. His sister Sally Whitman predeceased him.

He was connecting the dots in life and his family's Scots-Irish history in his latter years and on recent trips to Europe and to his alma mater in North Carolina, visiting old friends and making new ones while leaving a trail of admirers of his genuine joie de vivre and irrepressible energy, his zeal for adventure, and love of life. More than one person referred to him as "Mr. Adventure."  Never one to shy away from a wide stance and a low shot through the trees on a dog-leg for the sheer thrill, or the bushwhacked path off the trail "just because," or the long way home because it was a "new way," he will be missed.