John Bevis Knezovich
September 18, 1946 – September 5, 2020
John was a loving husband and father, a leader in his community and a passionate Cubs fan.
Born in Peoria, Illinois, in 1946, John was the eldest of six children.
He was an active child and enjoyed spending time with his extended family on the south side of Chicago. One summer there, his family noticed that we was drinking a lot of lemonade. They suspected and he was ultimately diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes at age 16. The diagnosis had a big impact on his life and on that of his family, and it encouraged him to make the most of his life.
He studied accounting at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he was a member of student government and the Delta Upsilon fraternity.
After graduating, he would represent his fraternity around the country. His travels one day brought him to the Colorado State University campus in Fort Collins, Colorado, where he decided to move permanently in 1970.
As a member of the Local Development Company back in the early 80s, John found himself butting heads with Jana. They annoyed each other immediately.
But after a few encounters at the local club, the Out of Bounds, they came to love each other and were married shortly thereafter.
They had a son, Jeff, and together with his daughter Rebecca, they shared the highs and lows until his death.
John was active in local politics.
He was elected to Fort Collins City Council in 1981 and served as mayor between 1983-84. Reflecting on his time in office, he said that bringing the Anheuser-Busch brewery to Fort Collins was one of his proudest achievements. He also remembers helping pass one of the first public smoking bans in Fort Collins.
Playing on his last name, one of his earliest campaign slogans was, “The K is not silent.” Beginning in 1989, he was an outspoken columnist on local governmental and civic issues for the Coloradoan, the Triangle Review, Fort Collins Forum and the Northern Colorado Business Report.