John Haykin Lombard

John was an exceptional, brilliant, loving, gentle man who loved family, the outdoors, environmental conservation, and community. He committed most of his adult life to making an impact in all these areas. His life journey began in the Magnolia neighborhood in Seattle. He attended Queen Anne High School, where he graduated in 1979. He then pursued his passion for knowledge at Washington University in St. Louis, earning a B.A. in Politics, Philosophy, and Economics in 1983. His academic prowess was evident as he was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa, a testament to his intellect and dedication.

John and a group of friends left Seattle on bikes in 1981 and biked across the country to Washington, D.C. When he arrived in DC, he met with Washington State’s Senator Slade Gorton, who had also ridden his bike to the Capitol. John had political connections wherever he went. Then John continued biking to Boston, MA, and then Turo, MA, where that city welcomed him to Cape Cod, which held the graves of many Lombard ancestors—including one who came to America on the Mayflower. They had a community dinner in his honor. He biked 3,500 miles one way.

After his graduation, John's commitment to environmental conservation led him to work for the mayor of St. Louis, MO, for six years. Upon his return to Seattle, his hometown, he became a Legislative Analyst for the Metropolitan King County Council. In this role, he was instrumental in adopting utility plans that guided land use and capital expenditures to protect salmon, improve water quality, and reduce flood hazards in four stream basins covering 150 square miles. His leadership was evident in the revision of utility policies governing water and sewer utilities in the 1994 comprehensive plan.

From 1996 to 2000, he served as King County’s salmon recovery coordinator for Lake Washington. As the Lake Washington Watershed Coordinator, John led a coalition of thirty local governments, public/private Steering Committees, scientists, and interested citizens in developing a salmon recovery plan for the 700-square-mile Greater Lake Washington watershed. He partnered with twenty local governments and the Corps of Engineers to construct a $2.4 million project at Ballard Locks to improve passage for juvenile salmon. This required managing a team of eight responsible for acquiring more than 1,500 acres of prime salmon habitat and identifying and prioritizing the numerous factors involved.

John then became a senior policy analyst at Steward and Associates, a Snohomish-based consulting firm, where he helped local governments develop conservation-related policy and legislation. During his time with Steward, he published Saving Puget Sound: A Conservation Strategy for the 21st Century through the American Fisheries Society and the University of Washington Press. As the only book-length, comprehensive analysis of the long-term challenges facing the Puget Sound ecosystem, this book was and is a testament to his understanding of the technical aspects of conservation and its policy and legislative frameworks. Its significance was acknowledged through John’s receipt of the Haig-Brown Award for environmental writing from the American Fisheries Society, Washington-British Columbia Chapter. In addition to this work, John provided policy analysis to the nonprofit Sustainable Fisheries Foundation.

From 2007 through 2010, John was the Coordinator for Puget Sound Regional Synthesis Model (PRISM) Outreach at the University of Washington. He taught a three-credit course on “The Puget Sound Ecosystem” to further the public's knowledge of the Puget Sound environment's importance. The curriculum surveyed scientific and policy issues for long-term conservation, including a review of current programs. Additionally, John’s staff position with PRISM involved consulting with potential user groups around the region.

In 2019, John ran for Seattle City Council to help lead a balanced approach to homelessness across Seattle and to collaborate with affected communities of Lake City, Northgate, and Aurora. His campaign placed third in the primary, which was insufficient to advance to the general election.

Later, he became a broker at Windermere Real Estate in Seattle and used his expertise to specialize in Creekside properties. His professional newsletters always included information about the Thornton Creek watershed and how residents could best care for it.

John's love for the outdoors was a significant part of his life. He often found solace in hiking, whether with his children, friends, or alone, amidst the beauty of nature. His deep connection to the natural world inspired him and, hence, others. It was a part of what drove him to be a thriving and impactful community activist. His unwavering dedication to the Thornton Creek Alliance was instrumental, leaving behind a legacy of success for Thornton Creek watershed and the greater community. John's commitment to being well-informed and his enthusiasm for networking and outreach made him a force to be reckoned with. This unique combination of traits made him a highly effective advocate as he collaborated with public officials and community leaders.

He worked with the Seattle Parks Dept. to finally name several Thornton Creek natural areas, which for decades had been known only as Park One, Park Six, etc., the names used when they were purchased. These designations helped raise those natural areas in the public's consciousness, which in turn helped their stewardship. He helped spark the Seattle Parks Department’s purchase of Lake City Floodplain Park on NE 125th St., intending to add public land to restore the floodplain and upland area along Thornton Creek’s north fork. He collaborated with Indigenous representatives to seek a name based on native heritage that the Parks Department might permanently give to the park.

He helped launch a Seattle Department of Neighborhoods grant effort to gather public input to address issues along 8th Ave. NE in Seattle’s Northgate neighborhood, including Beaver Pond Natural Area and the south fork of Thornton Creek. To implement the grant, he co-chaired the dedicated nonprofit Beaver Pond Friends and Neighbors, managing the public outreach alongside the consultant hired for this task. John spearheaded and helped organize the Noxious Weeds Knockout partnership for the Thornton Creek watershed, which comprises King County, the City of Seattle, the City of Shoreline, TCA, Forterra, and EarthCorps. This partnership began a highly active knotweed eradication effort along Thornton Creek and its tributaries. He served as Green Seattle Partnership Forest Steward for Beaver Pond Natural Area near Northgate.

To help the Seattle area plan on current and future issues, John led a coalition of 14 community-based organizations in northeast Seattle, stretching from Maple Leaf north to the city border and east to Lake Washington. Issues included transit service, neighborhood capital improvements, housing/homelessness, and zoning.

John was instrumental in the creation of the District 5 Community Network, an association of community groups and interested citizens working on issues of common interest across all of City Council District 5 in north Seattle. The first of its kind across the City, the D5 Network helped strengthen community connections, hosted community meetings with Councilmember Debora Juarez, and organized tours of District 5.

Honors & Awards include Conservationist of the Year, Society for Ecological Restoration, Northwest Chapter.

For all his successes, John grappled with depression for most of his adult life. In the face of these struggles, he showed enormous strength and fortitude for decades; he carried on and through and was a wonderful and loving father, a beloved brother, and a profoundly cherished friend to many. He ended his life by suicide. Above all, the family asks that if anyone who reads this notice finds themselves thinking they have failed, that their lives are not worth living, or that their families would be better without them, please honor John by taking our advice. Turn to those who love you; seek a way through the darkness; understand that these feelings are the depression talking; and choose to live. Avail yourself of resources; dial 988; there is always something better than this.

John is survived by his children, Forrest and Summer, who were the source of his greatest joy. His love for them was not just evident, but it was the driving force behind everything he did. Every moment he spent with them was a testament to his love, watching them grow into strong, independent, and intelligent young adults. His commitment to his children was unwavering and profound, a shining example of parental love. He also leaves his two remaining siblings, Larry Lombard and Laurie Albrecht. His father, John Cutler Lombard, passed on in 2008; his oldest brother, David Norman Lombard, and his mother, Dorothy Brandt Lombard, passed on in 2012.