John W. Newton of Harwich Port, MA and Naples, FL, died July 16 in Harwich Port. He was 91 and had suffered a stroke in 2006.

Born on June 27, 1921, he was the fifth and last child of Charles Harrison Newton and Mary G. Kiley. He outlived his brothers, Charles and Kenneth, and his sisters, Ruth and Isabel.

Mr. Newton was an outstanding athlete as a young man, and played football, baseball and hockey. He graduated from the Browne & Nichols School in Cambridge, MA in 1940.

He left New England to attend college at the University of Alabama, where he played baseball as a freshman. After one year he was obliged to leave school when his father died suddenly. He returned home to help run the family business, the management of parking lots at Braves Field and Fenway Park.

When World War II started, he enlisted in the Army where he served for 3 years, 10 months and 29 days in the Military Police and as an officer in the Signal Corps.

Following the war he returned to the Boston area where he met and later married the former Phyllis Baker, who survives him.

For many years Mr. Newton worked in the parking business, building and leasing parking garages in the Northeast. In later years, he was employed by R.M. Bradley, a Boston real estate firm. His specialty was site selection – locating sites for companies looking to build in New England.

In Needham, MA, where the Newtons raised their family, Mr. Newton was an elected assessor. He was also a founder and incorporator of the Needham Pool and Racquet Club, where he served as president and was made a life member.

In retirement, the Newtons divided their time between Naples, FL and Harwich Port, MA. An ambidextrous athlete, John played tennis at the Cape at the South Yarmouth Tennis Club and at the Wychmere Harbor Tennis Club. In FL, he was a member for 25 years of the Naples Bath and Tennis Club, playing tennis daily. He volunteered for 10 years at the Naples Community Hospital and the St. Vincent DePaul Thrift Shop.

Besides his wife of 64 years, Mr. Newton leaves three children – son John and his wife Nancy of Warren, CT and Chatham, MA; son Gary and his wife Joan of Washington, D.C.; and daughter Bethany and her husband Jim Kastritis of Yarmouth Port, MA.

He is also survived by six grandchildren -- Sarah Worden of Litchfield, CT, Kate Murray of Walpole, MA, Julie Irwin of Reading, MA., Cullen Newton of Baltimore, Jack Newton of New York City, and Mallory Newton of Boston.

He was also the devoted great grandfather of Sophie and Connor Murray and Gus and Sam Worden.

Friends are invited to meet with John’s family on Sunday, July 29, from 1:00 – 4:00 p.m. at the family home on 451 Main Street, Harwich Port, MA.

Those who wish to honor John’s memory may contribute to the Family Pantry, 133 Queen Anne Road, Harwich, MA 02645 or to Youth Haven, 5867 Whitaker Road, Naples, FL 34112.