John W. Danford passed away peacefully at his home in Pan Yack Park on November 10, 2025, surrounded by his family, after a years-long struggle with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.

John was born in 1947 to William and Elinor Jean Danford of Racine, Wisconsin, the second of five children. He completed his undergraduate studies at Dartmouth College (summa cum laude, 1969), earned a master’s at the University of California, Berkeley (1971), and his PhD at Yale (1976). 

John devoted his life to teaching political theory and philosophy. He started as a William Rainey Harper postdoctoral teaching fellow at the University of Chicago, earned a full professorship at the University of Houston, and finished his 44-year career at Loyola University Chicago. A devoted student of the classic texts in the tradition of Leo Strauss and Allan Bloom, and a scrupulous grammarian, John inspired a generation of honors students with readings from Plato, Thucydides, Adam Smith, and other premodern thinkers. His published academic work included books on Wittgenstein, David Hume, and a primer on modern liberty, Roots of Freedom.

Exploration into the origin of free societies was one of John’s favorite pursuits outside of the university setting: he spent many summers leading academic conferences on the topic, sharing his love of hiking and the outdoors with his peers in the mountains of Montana. A devout Lutheran and lover of music from classical to country, John sang with choirs in Europe’s historic churches. He was a consummate cheesehead; both the Packers and actual cheese featured prominently in his priorities. John loved to be on the water. He rowed crew, coaxed fearful water skiers, led canoe trips, sailed countless voyages across Eagle Lake, and made a single crossing of Lake Michigan as the crew member of a tall ship. 

More than anything, however, John adored his family. He is survived by his wife of 44 years, Karen; their three children — Will, David, and Nadia — and 12 grandchildren; as well as his four siblings, Steve, JaneAnn, Will, and Beth. 

John’s memorial service will be held at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, at 1610 Main Street in Union Grove, WI, on Saturday, November 15, 2025. Public visitation starts at 10:30 a.m., and the service is at noon. In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to St. Paul’s Lutheran Church.