John Michael Oakes of New Milford, CT passed away surrounded by his loving family after an intense, hard-fought battle with cancer on May 30, 2025.

He was born on Dec. 31, 1943, in Brooklyn, New York to the late John and Geraldine (Berry) Oakes. The oldest of four children, he attended Syosset High School where he was Editor of the school newspaper, and graduated from Georgetown University in 1966 with a B.S. in Foreign Service and a major in economics and government.

Upon graduation, John served as an officer in the US Army from 1967-1969 leading a nuclear missile unit in Germany during the Vietnam War. Upon his discharge he joined Chase Manhattan Bank in Manhattan, where he worked for 14 years as a VP in the Asia Banking Group, including living in Japan for three years with his young family. He had three children Michael, Kelly, and Sean with Valerie Budelman Oakes.

In 1979, John married Carole Shea in Sloatsburg, New York. Deeply devoted to each other, their careers in Finance and Academia took them many places, sometimes together, sometimes not. After living in the New York City area for over 10 years, they moved to Boston in 1986 where John was CEO of a high-tech start-up. A few years later, John served as President of a telecommunications firm in Washington, DC, traveling to be with Carole on the weekends, often at their second home in New Hampshire. His next position took him to Los Angeles where he served as CEO of a Fortune 500 technology firm. The bi-coastal travel was harder to manage, so Carole followed John to CA to take a faculty position as School of Nursing Director at Cal State Dominguez Hills in LA. They resided in California for over 10 years. Finally, with a desire to be closer to family, they returned to the East Coast and settled in New Milford, CT.

John had many hobbies and interests. He loved basketball, was an avid cyclist, and had eclectic musical tastes. He and Carole were devoted to their five Havanese dogs – Bandit, Tuxedo, Harley, Cole and Dreamer. John served as Show Chair of the Havanese Club of America, and two of their dogs took home Best-in-Show ribbons.

His time spent living overseas in the Army and with Chase spawned a love of travel that John and Carole embraced, taking yearly trips to places around the world and across the US, sometimes with family members or dear friends. Their international travel included trips to India, Turkey, Norway, Tahiti, Cuba, England, China, the Netherlands, France, Russia, Poland, and South Africa. They also enjoyed the National Parks and Alaska.

After retiring, John served on the New Milford Roads Committee and put his business acumen to work improving the town. He enjoyed his weekly phone calls with the mayor. But John’s passion project was his blog The Wrongologist. For 11 years he posted his well-reasoned views on “Geopolitics, Power and the Political Economy” accumulating more than 15,000 subscribers. Each post led off with the Daily Escape, a scenic photo or a political cartoon apropos to the article, followed by John’s thoughts and links to supporting articles. Sunday columns often ended with a little-known inspiring musical selection.

John is survived by his loving wife Carole Shea, his children John Michael Oakes Jr., Kelly Oakes (and Bob Willis), Sean Oakes (and Amy DePerro), Deirdre Morrissey (and Miles Morrissey), Maura Shea (and Rod Bingaman), and Merrill Dodd (and Randy Dodd), 12 grandchildren – Kasey, Kyle, Ryan, Mallory, Mickey, Conor, Anna, Elise, Claire, Megan, Nicole and David; and his sister Virginia Greiner (and Craig Greiner), brother-in-law, Ian Ewing and 7 nieces and nephews. He was proceeded in death by his parents John and Geraldine Oakes, brother Kevin Oakes and sister Geraldine Ewing.