John V. Majerowski

Obituary's Biography:

John Vincent Majerowski passed away on Friday December 6, 2024, at his home.  He was born January 18, 1971, to Robert & Suzanne Majerowski of Niles, Illinois.  John is the proud father of John “Jack” Montgomery and Landin Jacob and the dear loving friend of former spouse Amanda.  He’s the loving brother of Rob and Laura.

John grew up in Niles, Illinois where he was involved in scouting, music and local sports as a youth.  And it was here in Niles, at Oakton Manor Park, where John met some of his lifelong friends back in kindergarten and first grade.  Oakton Manor was an amazing congregation spot for neighborhood kids, and John enjoyed all the pick-up baseball and football games, or games of tag, that everyone played each day after school until the dinner bell rang.  Oakton Manor was the foundation of his lifelong friendships.

John graduated from Maine East High School in Park Ridge, class of 1989, and went to Northern Illinois University, graduating in 1993 with a Bachelor of Science degree.  He continued his education while in the working world by earning his Master of Business Administration from Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management in 2003.  In the professional world, he started his career in procurement and product management at Grainger where he worked for over 11 years before moving on to Snap-On Tools serving as a director in multiple product sourcing positions for the last 19 years.

John was the rock star of the family, being involved in music from a young age.  First it was a little piano, and then some tuba in the high school marching band, but his true musical love was the guitar, practicing diligently so he could emulate his heroes, Jimmy Page and Jimi Hendrix.  It was in high school when he and his neighborhood buddies started their first band, Destiny, playing covers of the Black Crowes and the J Geils Band.  As he continued improving his guitar playing, he performed in the bands Stone Diam and Greatmother, quickly moving from playing covers to writing originals. They increased their local presence and musical chops playing gigs at local bars and events.

A couple of years later, it was The Onlys, a band that took its stage presence to a completely new level by establishing a creepy, ghoulish, undead vibe and persona.  John became Johnny Krypt, their ‘undead’ lead guitarist. The Onlys evolved into the Rosedales, further amping up their ghoul vibe on stage, their musicianship, vocal harmonies, and their original song writing.  Numerous gigs and professionally produced albums & CDs followed.  Check out the Rosedales on Spotify!

John was so unabashedly proud of his boys, loving to share every minute of their academic, musical, and especially athletic pursuits and successes.  He was committed to attending their games both as a spectator and as an active participant as a coach or on the sidelines, supporting the boys’ basketball, baseball, and football teams both at the club level and at Antioch High School.  It was through the boys’ sports teams that John cultivated awesome long-lasting friendships with the “sports parents’ network” in and around Antioch as they traveled state to state to watch their kids compete on the baseball diamond. 

John loved to entertain.  He was a grill master and always wanted to be the host.  He had a great sense of humor, was quick witted and was a fine connoisseur of fart jokes(!). Boy, could he really make people laugh, especially himself!  Sometimes he’d be making himself laugh so hard he couldn’t get the words out.  He truly loved humor.

John loved everything Bears, Bulls, and Cubs, and was a rock music aficionado, enjoying tons of classic hard rock concerts over the years with his band buddies.  Ozzy, Scorps, Maiden, Rush, Priest…he saw them all and built so many great memories with his friends by attending these shows.   Music was something that really captured his heart and soul: playing it, listening to it, and experiencing it live with friends. To honor John, please take the time to enjoy your favorite music with your friends and family!

Visitation and memorial service will be held at Strang Funeral Chapel & Crematorium, 410 E Belvidere Rd, Grayslake, IL 60030 on Sunday December 15, from 12:00pm-4:00 pm, with words of remembrance starting at 3:00 pm.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to St. Jude Children’s Hospital.

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