Henson Leland Jones Jr.'s Obituary
Henson (Hans) Leland Jones Jr. lived a remarkably full life that stretched from pre-war Ohio to modern day California. He was a mischievous youth, a naval officer, a serial entrepreneur, an avid outdoorsman, a world traveller, and a contagious bon vivant. However, what most defined Hans Jones was his love and devotion to his family and friends. Hans passed away peacefully on April 30, 2025, two months after the passing of Kathie, his beloved wife of 59 years. He declared that he did not want to live without her so, characteristically, he didn’t.
Hans was born in Toledo, Ohio on March 6th, 1938. He was the 3rd child of Catherine Mauk Jones and Henson Leland Jones Sr., who owned and operated the Commodore Perry Company. Hans grew up in nearby Perrysburg, with his beloved sisters Jacque and Barbara, and he spent his youth duck hunting, riding horses, skiing, sailing and exploring the Maumee River. After bouncing in and out of a few boarding schools, Hans graduated from The Lawrenceville School and later Denison University. He then attended the Navy Officer Candidate School and served as an officer on the USS Pocono in the Mediterranean during the Cold War.
After the Navy, Hans attended graduate school at Stanford where he met Kathie Lusignan. They fell madly in love, swiftly married, and promptly had three children in four years. Following the death of his father, Hans took over as President of the Commodore Perry Company until the business was sold. He then became an executive and Board Member of The North Face and the family moved to Berkeley, California. Following the sale of The North Face, Hans started Telecam Partners in Telluride, Colorado, a successful real estate venture that developed much needed affordable housing and light-industrial space for the area’s booming resort community. Hans’s final two ventures brought him back to the outdoor industry, where he was an early investor and Board Member of the outdoor brands Mountain Hardwear and Stone Glacier.
But Hans was not a typical career/family man, he reveled in adventure and challenges. If he were to have a motto it might have been “Why not, how hard could it be?” Hans’s questionable adventures included waterskiing behind a Navy helicopter, canoeing the length of the Mississippi River, running a marathon after a bar bet, and dragging friends and family up countless mountain peaks with little planning or equipment. He was masterful at rallying people to do things they normally wouldn’t - it was fun, made for great stories, resulted in only a few injuries but quite a few stuck vehicles.
Hans’s passion for life also translated into a devotion to his family and friends. While he was not particularly expressive, Hans loved deeply and was fiercely loyal. He would do anything for his family and would routinely help out friends in need. Hans was the guy who you’d call if you were in trouble, and he was the guy who wore sunglasses to graduations and weddings to hide his misty eyes.
Hans was a major presence in the lives of those he loved and a large void is felt in his absence. Hans is survived by his children Cameron, Leland and Tegan, and his six very beloved grandchildren Darius, Tegan, Braelyn, Henson, Louis and Sierra.
The family requests that any donations be made to the Navy SEAL Foundation, which supports active duty and veteran members of the NSW community and their families, or the National Parks Conservation Association, an independent, nonpartisan organization devoted exclusively to advocating for and protecting America's National Park System for present and future generations.
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