Hard working, dedicated, and classy, John Michael Magness was admired and respected as a West Point cadet, aviation officer, exceptional business leader, loving friend, husband, father, grandfather, and ardent follower of Christ.
John described himself in a particular order: “Christian, Husband, Father, real estate developer, business leader, author (Pilot Vision), veteran, ‘Night Stalker,’ Dragoon, USMA ’86, diver, runner... blessed.” He was all those things and more. His most admirable quality was his gratitude for living and the grace in how he lived his life. Many were drawn to John because he wanted to enthusiastically share this gift of gratitude with all.
John was raised in an Army family, living family values that he would champion throughout a lifetime of service. His grandfather was an officer in World War II and Korea; his father served as an Army officer in Vietnam. John understood it was inevitable that he would also serve in the military, as did both his brothers. He said, “It’s an unwritten ideal in our family that service to our military and country comes first.”
At John’s passing, classmate Dick Scott noted, “My overarching memories of John go to his faith, his love and fidelity to family, his patriotism, his courage, his competitiveness, and his care and respect to all of us. John was always on the right side of the good fight!”
Following graduation, John attended airborne, air assault, survival, Chemical officer, and rotary-wing flight training courses at Fort Rucker, AL, where he met the love of his life, Angie. His first assignment was flying Cobra gunships along the Iron Curtain with the 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment in Germany. Two years later, when the wall came down, his unit deployed to the Persian Gulf, where he commanded an attack helicopter “Quick Strike” troop in the 7th Corps in the liberation of Kuwait.
Returning to the United States, John was selected to serve with the elite 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, the “Night Stalkers,” in support of the Army Rangers, Navy Seals, and other special operators. As operations officer and Black Hawk pilot, John participated in numerous combat missions, including the Battle of the Black Sea in Mogadishu, Somalia.
After four years of deployments and combat missions and nine years total Army service, he and his wife, Angie, decided it was time to leave the Army. He acted as a consultant to the United Arab Emirates’ government and in 1997 joined the multinational Hillwood Development Company, part of the Perot family of companies.
“The Perot family have been big supporters of the military for 50 years,” John later reflected. “They don’t publicize the amazing things they do for our veterans, but Mr. Perot Sr. helped more than a few members of my unit and their families with medical bills, prosthetics, and funeral expenses. I came through Dallas to thank him, and I got to know him and his son Ross Perot Jr., our chairman. Two years later, they offered me a job at Hillwood.”
In 1999, John wrote and published Pilot Vision, sharing seven pilot secrets for success in life and business. In particular, he highlighted teamwork, focus, discipline, fitness, and decision-making among the biggest takeaways from a military career that carried over to business success. He later worked to document the true story of the heroic battle in Vietnam that eventually claimed the life of his father nearly 34 years after it occurred.
At Hillwood, John was instrumental to developing San Bernardino’s Norton Air Force Base into a Southern California logistics hub, through the formation of Alliance California, a public-private partnership to bring jobs back to the area and community at large.
John led the development of more than 50 million square feet of industrial space across the nation for clients such as Target and Amazon. At the time of his death, John was continuing to raise the bar on the quality of life in the communities he touched as executive vice president of development at Hillwood.
Following in the family military tradition, his son, John Michael, graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis in 2019 (a “parental failure” that drew no small amount of grief from West Point classmates). His daughter, Chelsea, completed college in Texas, became a nurse practitioner, married a Texan and bore him his first grandson, Rhett, who will one day restore the family name and make it to West Point.
Committed to a lifetime of “Duty, Honor, and Country,” John joined the board of the Johnny Mac Soldiers Fund, the nonprofit organization named for ’86 classmate Colonel John McHugh, who was killed in Afghanistan in 2010.
In February 2023, to raise money and awareness of the organization’s mission, John and two other Army veterans participated in the Aconcagua Challenge, summiting Mount Aconcagua in Argentina, one of the highest mountains in the world. Tragically, John succumbed to medical complications in the hours after reaching the summit.
Classmates on the Johnny Mac board noted that John was “our classmate, teammate, and friend. He was our hero, serving others until the end.” A very large contingent attended his internment at West Point. Friends noted that John died as he lived his life, “with his boots on.”
His daughter, Chelsea, said her father “loved and believed so deeply in the Johnny Mac cause and mission, and we will strive to continue his legacy…His faith and family were the center of his life. He lived with so much purpose.”
We thank God for you, John. You are the best of us. Be Thou at Peace.