John Basil Gantt, Sr. passed away peacefully on August 14, 2017 after battling dementia.
Many IISL Members may remember John Gantt. John was very active in the Space Law Moot Court and judged the North American Regional Competition numerous times.
John also enjoyed writing the Moot Court Problems, authored the 1994 Problem and co-authored the Problem in 1998, 2000, 2002 and 2008. John was always willing to help out and will be missed by all of us who knew him.
John was born on 12 March 1939 to Floyd Muse and Edith Leslie Mack Gantt in Washington, DC and raised on the family farm, Rokeby, in McLean, Virginia.
Mr Gantt graduated from Fairfax High School in Fairfax, Virginia in 1956 and attended Carnegie Institute of Technology in Pittsburgh receiving a Bachelor Degree in Applied Physics and a commission as a Second Lieutenant in the U.S. Army Signal Corp in 1960.
He served six months active duty and remained in the reserves for thirty years rising to the rank of Colonel in the Judge Advocate General’s Corps. After his six months of active duty, he returned to the Washington, DC area and studied law at George Washington University and later finished his law studies at the University of Virginia Law School.
He then went to work as an attorney for the Communication Satellite Corporation in Washington, DC and was later the vice president and general counsel for Comsat General Corporation. He continued in private practice after retiring from Comsat.
Mr Gantt was a member of the Metropolitan Club of Washington, DC, The Friends Creek Anglers Association and Farmington Country Club. Mr Gantt is survived by his wife, Isabel; two children, Catherine Waring Ryan and John Basil Gantt, Jr.; his eight grandchildren and by his brother, Edward Muse Gantt.
