JOHN FITZSIMONS "JAKE" FANT Jr.
died on July 20, 2017, after a short illness. Jake was born on August 1, 1921, in Philadelphia, PA. He was the son of the late Julia McCloud and Lt. Colonel John Fitzsimons Fant, Sr. of Wynnewood, Pa.                                         
He graduated from Lower Merion High School where he played basketball on a team that was runner up in the Pennsylvania state tournament, leading to his being awarded a basketball scholarship to Penn State. After one year at Penn State, World War II broke out, and he joined the U.S. Army Air Corps and went into pilot training. One year later, he flew a Boeing B17 Flying Fortress across the Atlantic to Prestwick, Scotland, and was assigned to the 94th Bomb Group of the U.S. Army 8th Air Force, which was stationed in Bury St. Edmonds, England. From July 1943 to April 1945, he flew 32 missions over Germany and Occupied Europe.
An entry in the National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force, Rte 95, Pooler, Ga., records Lt. John F Fant, Jr., pilot, shot down 5 December 1943 in B17  “Bouncing Bitch" ditched in The Channel and “all returned to base.”
After World War II, he entered the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Finance on the GI Bill, joined Delta Tau Delta fraternity and graduated in 1948. He married the former Mary P. McCrea "Mickey" of Shaker Heights and moved to Cleveland to work for the accounting firm Arthur Anderson. He went to night law school at Cleveland John Marshall while working at Arthur Anderson, specializing in tax law, which led to jobs as comptroller of The American Shipbuilding Co. and counsel at Crawford Fitting Co., from which he retired in 1993.
 
Jake and Mickey were avid golfers and bridge players, and lifelong dog lovers. Those who wish may make donations in their names to the Geauga County Humane Society.
Jake is survived by his four children, John F. Fant III (Kathleen) of Cleveland Heights, OH, Katherine Mitchell (Martin) of Dallas, TX, Dr. Emily Fant Martin (Robert) of Las Vegas, NV, and Molly Pierce (Andrew) of Indian Wells, CA; eight grandchildren; his brother, Thomas D. Fant of West Chester, PA; three nephews; and a niece.
His wife, Mickey, died in May of 2011. A sister, Joan Fant Armstrong of Bensalem, Pa. died in November of 2002.
There will be a private memorial service. Funeral arrangements are being handled by Schulte & Mahon Murphy Funeral Home, Lyndhurst, Ohio and by West Laurel Hill Cemetery, Bala Cynwyd, Pa.