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James David Hann

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James was born on 7 July, 1931 to James Berry and Mary Jane Hann. His early years were spent in Overland Park, Kansas and Bailey, Colorado. He was a child of the depression era, an event that would leave a lifelong impact on him.
He attended and graduated from Shawnee - Mission High School in Mission, Kansas. He enrolled and graduated from the University Of Minnesota with a degree in Electrical Engineering through the Naval ROTC program.
He met and married Leigh Allison in 1954, starting a lifelong love affair producing 4 sons: Peter (Megan), Jim (Julia), Andrew (Deborah) and Jonathan and ultimately 10 grandchildren: Callie (Rhett), Emily (Milam), Cullen, Jennifer, Haley (James), Andrea (Justin), Mallory, Kimberly (Charlie), Connor (Emily), Caitlyn and 2 great grandchildren: Whit and Wells. He was married to Leigh for 65 years until her passing in 2019.
James David Hann (David) was a pioneer in the information technology industry. He was honorably discharged from the Navy in 1956 and was recruited by General Electric to attend the Advanced Engineering Program in Schenectady, NY. This, General Electric leading edge computer education program, produced many of the leaders in the information technology industry for the next 30 years. After graduating from this course he moved his family to Phoenix, Arizona where he worked for General Electric and Honeywell until the early 1970's. In 1971 he was recruited by Courier Terminal Systems to be their Vice President of Engineering. Within a year, he was promoted to President of the company and led one of the fastest growing 3270 terminal companies in the United States.
He continued his career in Northern Virginia as the Chief Executive Officer of GTE Telenet, a packet switching network company that provided the first commercial email service in the United States and was a predecessor to today's public Internet. He developed an industry-wide reputation for making innovative information technology companies profitable.
He left the corporate world to retire in Paradise Valley in the late 1980'5, only to become involved with Town civic duties and was elected Mayor of Paradise Valley in 1992. He worked tirelessly to get citizens involved with the town activities and shepherded many initiatives, such as the undergrounding of power lines, that the residents benefit from today.
David and Leigh then became world travelers, visiting all of the Americas, North, South and Central in addition to Europe, Far East and Africa. Ultimately they settled on winters in Arizona and summers in Colorado where he maintained cabins that were held in the family since the mid 1930's.
His greatest joy was his family. He worked relentlessly to arrange family vacations and reunions. His happiest times were Thanksgiving and Christmas with the entire family in attendance.
A Celebration of Life Ceremony will be held in early January 7,2023
10:00am at The Church of the Beatitudes 555 W Glendale Ave Phoenix, Az 85021
Please direct donations to the Desert Botanical Garden or plant a tree in his memory.
If you have any questions please contact: Celebration of Life Funeral Planning 602-570-3799.