This memorial website was created in memory of our loved one, John (Jack) Franzen, 89, born on August 1, 1924 and passed away on January 6, 2014.

   Born in Springfield, Ohio, to John and Estelle Franzen, he lived most of his life in Coral Gables, Florida, and Dallas before retiring to East Texas. Jack was a kind, generous man with a true talent for enjoying life and inviting others to share it with him.
Upon graduation from high school, Jack enlisted in the U.S. Navy, serving with the Seabees from 1943-45 in the South Pacific. His unit helped to build the airstrips on the islands of Okinawa and Tinian.
After the war, Jack attended the University of Miami and graduated with a degree in Engineering. Miami is also where he met Joan Heath whom he would marry and be enthusiastically devoted to for the next 67 years.
Jack and Joan moved to Dallas, where Jack joined Fox & Jacobs, a north Texas homebuilder. As V.P. Director of Marketing, he helped grow the company into the largest homebuilder in Texas and one of the largest private homebuilders in the U.S. Jack was later instrumental in the revival of downtown Dallas with his pioneering development in 1980, of Bryan Place. Jack was an avid fisherman, a bread maker, a long-time Boy Scout leader, a wine connoisseur and a lover of Western novels. He was known to be a zealous Dallas Cowboys and Texas Rangers fan.  His retirement was an active one, including involvement in home building, wood crafting, and being a regular at the First Monday flea market in Canton, Texas. Jack was extremely loving and proud of his wife Joan and their seven children: Jim, Jill, Joe, John, Jerry, Jeff and Julie. Jack is survived by his wife Joan,currently in the Dallas area. He is also survived by his sister Marge Ash of Florida and brother Bill Franzen of New York; as well as his twelve grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren, plus his nieces, nephews and many, many friends. Jack was preceeded in death by son John Franzen.