John Thomas Livoni Obituary

September 21st, 1940 - May 7th, 2023

John Thomas Livoni passed away peacefully on May 7th, 2023, at 82, while in the care of Resurrection Hospital in Chicago, Illinois. He was hospitalized for treatment of congestive heart failure and other related ailments.

Born in Phoenix, Arizona, John was the first-born son to parents Mary Margaret Farrell and Donald Victor Livoni.  As the oldest of four children by more than six years, he is remembered by his three siblings as their adventurous protector, ski & swim instructor, an early connoisseur of music and literature, the first to drive a cool car, the first to get an after-school job, the first to leave home, and the first to fall in love and get married.

Despite the challenge of attending four different high schools, John's easy-going manner found him friends in each new school as the family moved from Arizona to California, then to Texas, and finally to Colorado.

While a young teenager living in Pasadena, he snuck into various LA clubs and found a lifelong love for jazz; Stan Kenton, Dave Brubeck, Paul Desmond, Carlos Jobim, the tight harmonies of The Four Freshmen, and the cool jazz tones of June Christie and Anita O’Day were just a few of his favorites.

A special love was reserved for MJQ, the innovative jazz quartet. He often recounted the story of being so mesmerized while listening to the Modern Jazz Quartet play "The Golden Striker" live that he had an out-of-body experience.

An avid reader, John was drawn to history and philosophy early in life. In 1958, he graduated from JK Mullen Catholic High School in Denver, Colorado, and enrolled at the University of Colorado in Boulder. In college, he studied languages, literature, history, and politics.  During his junior year, he spent several months traveling across Europe and North Africa, staying in hostels, traveling with minimal possessions, and picking up part-time work as the need for a bit of money dictated.

He returned to Boulder and graduated with a degree in Political Science in 1963. By then he’d also found his professional calling, one to last for the rest of his working life. What had begun as a part-time college job at British inspired haberdashery Kinsley & Company, grew into a natural fit for a born salesman who had a keen sense of color and an innate sense of style. It was also around this time that he fell in love with Barbara Rachel Conley of Denver. They married in the fall of 1963. Their shared passion for art and music as well as a deep understanding of dressing as an embodiment of personal style made them a magnetic team. Their daughter Mary Petrine, was born in 1964.

A recollection of John Livoni's life must emphasize the magical influence of Boulder, Colorado. It was the place where he found happiness not once but twice at crucial points in his life.

As a college student, it was the city where he discovered who he really was, where he met his oldest, dearest friends and the professors who would challenge him.
As a young father, he returned to Boulder with wife Barbara and daughter Mary to live in 1970. There, he re-lived his beloved Boulder experiences with his family; flyfishing on crisp Colorado mornings, of ski trips, drives to Nederland and Lyons, of picnics at Chautauqua Park and dinner parties with friends, all within a landscape so radiantly beautiful that it often seemed unreal. He spoke about Boulder reverently through the very last days of his life. 

Boulder was also the city where he realized his most ambitious dream; to open a contemporary clothing store. Specializing in exclusive designs, with clothes and accessories imported worldwide, the LIVONI store opened at 1110 Spruce Street in 1977 and then moved to 1212 Pearl Street on the Boulder Mall in 1979.

"We are offering to people in Boulder the kinds of things they have previously had to go to San Francisco or New York to find." - John Livoni, Boulder Daily Camera, 1977.

Although LIVONI closed in the early 1980s, John continued to creatively merchandise and sell the iconic modern menswear look that he’d pioneered in the 1970s, working in Kansas City Missouri and in Dallas Texas.

In the late 1980s, John found a new home with mega retailer and customer service legend Nordstrom. As a buyer for the Nordstrom brand Faconnable, he travelled extensively in France, in addition to heading the team at the Beverly Hills Faconnable store on Wilshire Boulevard.  He received many accolades and awards for his customer service during this time including the Tire Award for Excellent Customer Service and the distinguished honorific of Pacesetter, a title given exclusively only to the top 10 percent whose net sales continually meet or exceed their annual goals. When he retired in 2020 from the Mission Viejo store, he had been part of the Nordstrom team for 31 years.

John will be remembered for his impeccable style, intelligence, his kindness, and his generosity. For the care and love he gave his mother until she passed at the age of 98. JT Livoni: the world traveler, the skier, the fly fisherman, the jazz aficionado, and the teller of hilarious stories and jokes in perfect dialects. Always ready for a good discussion, ready to analyze the day's politics or the latest good book, the man who would run to the kitchen after a night of drinks and inspired conversation and cook a delicious meal for everyone no matter how late the hour. A romantic in the truest sense, John appreciated beauty, wit, fashion and humor in all forms until the very last days of his life.

He will be sadly missed by his surviving daughter, Mary Petrine Livoni, and his Grand-daughter Mila Livoni Zidel, as well as his three siblings, Karen Betson of Newport Beach, Donald Livoni of San Francisco, and Richard Livoni of San Diego, and by his nephew Brandon Seger of Anaheim, California. He will be remembered fondly by his former spouse Barbara Rachel Conley. He will be remembered and missed by long-time friends Mike Ward of Longmont and Roddy Waterston of Vancouver.

A private celebration of life will be held in Boulder in September 2023.