Jon Elkow

Jon Elkow, a long-time resident of Ridgefield, passed away on New Year’s Eve, surrounded by family, after a long battle with cancer. He was 84 years old. He was predeceased by his parents, J.Duke Elkow and Madeline Miller, and his siblings, Ann McLeod and Rick Elkow. He is survived by his wife of 62 years, Barbara Elkow, and his children and their spouses, Pamela Elkow and Dan Barrett, and Chris and Allison Elkow, grandchildren, Hannah Reischer-Brode (husband Matthew Brode), Kiera Elkow, Sadie Elkow, Dan’s daughter, Maddie, as well as great grandchildren Jack and June Brode.   

Born on April 7, 1940, Jon grew up in Brooklyn, NY, and spent many summers with his family in Montauk and occasionally Wisconsin. With his father’s teaching taking him to Wisconsin, Jon moved in with his grandparents, John and Katherine Elkow, staying in Brooklyn. Graduating High School at 16, Jon enrolled in Brooklyn College. He decided to take a break and got a job working at IBM at 17. He then returned to Brooklyn College, where he and Barbara started dating, marrying after graduation. Graduating with a business degree, Jon returned to work at IBM, obtaining his MBA from NYU and staying until his early retirement in the early 90’s. Jon gave generously of his time outside of work and was elected and proudly served as Chairman of the Ridgefield Board of Education. Jon also spent many winters leading AARP’s Tax Preparation volunteer service. He also volunteered to coach little league and soccer, served as church Treasurer, and was a member of the Ridgefield Men’s Club. 

 Along with their other pursuits, Jon and Barbara had several dogs throughout the years, including Beagle Snoopy, Dalmatians Pepper and Sally, Bashful the rescue ‘beagle’, a rescue Havanese Abby, and a lot of West Highland Terriers – Fiona, Robbie, Tuppence, Molly, Tucker, Annie, Jennie and Winnie. Along the way, Jon and Barbara fostered rescued Westies as well and became very involved with Westie Med, a not-for-profit organization that provides medical care to rescued Westies, where Jon served as Treasurer until the end of last year.

Jon loved music and had an eclectic music collection. The radio was always on in our house growing up. He was also a voracious reader, mostly of histories and mysteries, and did the NY Times Crossword every day in pen, even printing the puzzle when it went digital.

When the kids were young, vacations consisted of a lot of camping, mostly in the Adirondacks but also including a particularly memorable month-long cross-country trip that saw near encounters with bears, a tornado, standing on the Continental divide and glaciers, Devil’s Tower, Mt. Rushmore, Wall Drug and seeing the Calgary Stampede. Before Covid and health issues slowed them down, Jon and Barbara took advantage of early retirement for more adventurous travelling. They visited Bermuda, England, Scotland (several times), many National Parks, cruised the Baltic Sea, Alaska (including a helicopter ride to a glacier) and the coast of Norway all the way past the Arctic Circle, often with close friends, Connie and Dick Simmel. But their favorite place was Cape Cod, where they built a second home in Harwich.

Jon was truly one of the good guys and will be greatly missed.

The family is planning a private burial in the spring. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests a donation to WestieMed, http://www.westiemed.org or Doctors without Borders, http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org

Kane Funeral Home is in care of arrangements.

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