John Fery

John Fery, one of Idaho's most well-known business and philanthropic leaders, has died at the age of 86. He passed away on Saturday February 11 2017 in Rancho Mirage, California, from complications of acute leukemia. A family spokesperson says he was surrounded by his wife, Dee, and other family members. Fery was chief executive officer of Boise Cascade from 1972 until 1994, when he retired. He began working for the company in 1957. Fery became chairman of the board in 1978, and also served on the boards of Boeing, Hewlett-Packard, U.S. Bank, Albertsons and Union Pacific Railroad. Fery was born on February 16, 1930, in Bellingham, Washington, and lived with his mother and father in Everett for the first few years of his life. Before Fery reached the third grade, his father died, and he moved to Seattle with his mother. He graduated from Seattle's Roosevelt High School in 1948. John Fery met Dee Carlo while they were students at the University of Washington. The couple married in 1953 and moved to California after John Fery returned from serving in the Navy during the Korean War. He earned his MBA from Stanford University, then joined the Oregon-based paper company Western Kraft with Bob Hansberger. Fery and Hansberger moved to Idaho in 1957, and transformed what was then known as the Boise Payette Lumber Company into Boise Cascade Corporation. After moving to Boise, John and Dee Fery had three sons - Brent, Bruce and Michael - and six grandchildren.