John has been a hands-on partner and is now the owner of Rocky Mountain Hat Company for over 34 years. Craftsmanship and attention to detail have always been his number one priority. When Rocky Mountain Hats entered the hat trade, their customers were very discerning and expected a perfectly fitting hat, unparalleled durability, and hat styles reminiscent of the west. The hats had to be all of those things, and more, to keep up with their hard-working customers. Those expectations have been met and time-tested with over ten thousand custom hats put to hard use over these last decades.

In the early years, John scoured the world and accumulated a vast amount of vintage hat making equipment and supplies which have been in use on a daily basis.

When he's not in the Hat Shop, John enjoys wildlife photography in nearby Yellowstone National Park and further afield, National Parks in Africa. Another of his passions is tinkering on his vintage International Scouts.

John is very pleased and proud to now be working alongside his daughter-in-law, Alisa, who will carry on the hat making tradition as the next generation of Morris Hatters.

To his friends, John Sr. was known as a renaissance man. He loved discussing all aspects of horsemanship, hunting, fishing, engineering, gunsmithing, etc with friends and customers in the shop. As a theoretical physicist he could not only design but also build just about anything, no matter how finely detailed, including all the original hat shop equipment, most of which is still in use today. He loved packing the horses for extended hunting trips, training young colts and bridle horses, competing in reining cow horse competitions, and all things horse related.

1938-2016