After decades of starting and running lucrative businesses, John Wyatt could have easily retired and enjoyed his spoils. But that wasn’t his style. Following the sale of his sixth business, he turned to his spouse, Janice, for ideas about what to do next.
“Our children had just graduated from college or were well on their way, so we knew they would be fine,” he explained to this writer once. “And [Jan] said, ‘Well, what about all the kids who haven’t had the advantages?’”
By “advantages,” she meant educational ones. John had always been grateful for the excellent education he’d gained at James Ruse Agricultural High School and the University of New England in his native Australia. That’s why, when he came to the United States in the late 1970s, he was so shocked by the substandard quality of our schools.
Eventually, he would be able to afford to help change that in his own modest way. One of the places he would concentrate on was Dorchester County. So, when John Wyatt died on May 5th, children of all ages in Dorchester lost a significant advocate and friend.
After moving to the U.S., John became involved with a number of successful technology concerns, including Cohen & Wyatt (president), James Martin & Co (CEO), Ariel Research Corp (president & CEO), and Cigital Inc (president, CEO, and chairman). In June 2018, he and his spouse invested that success in the John & Janice Wyatt Foundation.
J2W’s central goal was to create educational equity for disadvantaged children so they had a stronger chance of going on to be contributing citizens. It began providing grants to public education institutions and non-profits for specific programs in Winchester and Fairfax County, Virginia, and in Dorchester County, Maryland. The reason those locations were chosen was that J2W’s executive director lived in Winchester while the Wyatts had homes in Fairfax and Cambridge.
John wasn’t just an “angel investor” who provided money and stayed out of the way. In 2018, he started Wyatt Consulting, which was dedicated to improving the effectiveness of education & social programs. He joined the board of the organization Moving Dorchester Forward. He attended meetings of the Cambridge Association of Neighborhoods. He talked to the press at length about J2W and his beliefs in childhood learning. And he personally contributed to the campaigns of Dr. Susan Morgan and Dr. Theresa Stafford when they ran for the Board of Education (and won).
“He approached me asking probing questions as to what I wanted to achieve,” remembered Dr. Morgan. “Since I loved talking about ways to improve education, we struck up a conversation. He ended up contributing to my campaign. But that wasn’t the end of it, he would contact me regularly after my election to see if there was anything he could do to help.”
Despite decades of living in America, John still had an Australian accent and said, “Cheers, mate.” He was a nice guy with a passion for what he was involved in. And he will be missed.
“His warm laugh and laid-back personality made him an easy person to talk with,” said Dr. Morgan. “His death has left a large hole in the community of Cambridge and Fairfax. I will certainly miss him greatly. My heart goes out to his family and all who had the pleasure to have known him.”
“John was simply a wonderful human being,” remarked J2W Executive Director Matthew Peterson, “incredibly wise and determined to ensure excellence in all things: himself, his team, and in the performance of the work. At the same time, he was so full of life, he was kind, and he met every day with a broad smile and inclination to laugh. Every community, around the region and the world, in which John was a part of lost something real and true with his passing.”
Three years ago the Spy sat down with John to learn more about his commitment to education.
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