John I. Howell, 97; Banker, Reporter, World War II Veteran

John I. Howell of Greenwich and Springfield Center, NY died Thursday, March 13 at his Greenwich home with his companion of the past decade, Marge Boger, at his side. He was 97.

Born in Sewickley, PA on Feb. 2, 1917, Mr. Howell was the son of the late Rev. Alleyne C. and Rosalie Howell. He was the youngest of their three sons.

He graduated from St. Paul's School in Concord, NH in 1935 and Yale University in 1939. In 1941 after war was declared, he sought to enlist in the US Army but was rejected, a matter he overcame when he memorized the eye chart. Once in the Army, he was assigned to the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) in Washington and later sent to Burma and China where he provided intelligence on Japanese maneuvers. His intelligence background also came into play after the war when he worked for the CIA under cover as a banker in Tangiers, Morocco. His efforts were focused on tracking the source of funds to pay for Soviet spies in this country. But it was finance that became his career.

With a keen interest in world affairs and commerce, Mr. Howell was well suited for J. Henry Schroder Banking Corp based in London, England. He worked at the New York office of the company where he became president in 1962 and then chairman of the board in 1970. In that capacity, and eventually following his retirement he went on to serve on the board of directors of several companies including Ward Howell Associates Inc. and the American International Group.

His work took him around the world almost always accompanied by his wife, Nelda Audibert Howell, whom he met at a dance in New York City. At the time, Mr. Howell was working as a news reporter for PM, a New York City daily newspaper. Soon thereafter while on a trip to Europe with his mother and brother, Mr. Howell saw Nelda again at her home in France. They married in 1941 they moved to Cleveland, OH where he worked as a reporter for the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the couple started a family. They then moved to Washington, DC where he worked in the Division of World Trade Intelligence for the Department of State prior to enlisting in the Army.

Mr. Howell had a strong attachment to Springfield Center, where his grandfather, Henry Wardwell, built a home that over the decades became the nucleus of a family compound. 

He was instrumental in saving one of the country's first golf courses, the Otsego Golf Course, from development although he was never an avid golfer and much preferred tennis.

The Howells were the parents of two children, a son, John, married to Carol B. Howell of Warwick, RI and a daughter, Claire Blatchford, married to Edward Blatchford of Shelburne, MA. He was the grandfather of Diana O'Brien of Wilson, WY, John Howell III of Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam; Theodore Howell of Saunderstown, RI; Laurel Blatchford of Washington, DC and Christa Blatchford of Brooklyn, NY. He had eight great-grandchildren.

Following the death of Mrs. Howell in 2002, Marge Boger, a close friend whose late husband also served in Burma, but with the Army Air Corps, became his companion.

A memorial service will be held at 11:30 a.m. Saturday, March 22 at St. Barnabas Church, Lake Avenue, Greenwich. A second service is being planned for early July in Springfield Center.

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to the Head of The Lake, the corporation established to save the Otsego Golf Course in the name of the Otsego Land Trust, PO Box 173, Cooperstown, NY 13326.