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The father of former PATA Chairman Peter Semone has died at 92 in California, leaving behind a remarkable story of travel, tourism, conservation, family and a love affair that began aboard a German passenger ship.
“My dad passed away on Tuesday morning in California.”
Those were the sad words former PATA Chairman Peter Semone shared with eTurboNews Publisher Juergen Steinmetz. Peter wanted eTN to know because his father had been “a big fan of eTurboNews.”
John Albert Semone passed away peacefully at his home in San Rafael, California, at 4 a.m. on September 8, 2026, from age-related health causes. He was 92. John belonged to a generation for whom travel began with imagination.
Born June 8, 1934, in Detroit and raised in Center Line, Michigan, he spent his childhood poring over National Geographic and sending away for travel brochures. He collected so many that they eventually filled several orange crates. Those crates contained the beginnings of a life dedicated to discovering the world.
A Traveler—and a Love Story
After high school, John attended Wayne State University and spent summers working aboard the SS South American on the Great Lakes. He later served four years in the U.S. Coast Guard before returning to university, ultimately earning a degree in Geography from San Francisco State University.
Then came the journey that changed his life.
In the summer of 1958, John and a college friend sailed from New York to Europe and hitchhiked through England, France, Germany, Switzerland, and Italy. For the return journey, they boarded the German passenger ship SS Hanseatic.
There John met Gerlinde Ausserehl, a young German woman from Sachsenhausen traveling to visit her sister in Oregon. John invited Gerlinde to play shuffleboard.
A romance that would last a lifetime began somewhere between Europe and America. Travel had given John the world he dreamed about as a boy. Then it gave him Gerlinde.
From the Redwoods to the World of Tourism
While studying in San Francisco, John worked for the Save the Redwoods League among the ancient trees of California’s Avenue of the Giants. He briefly considered conservation as a career, but tourism ultimately called.
He worked for a steamship company, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines and then Air New Zealand. He opened Air New Zealand’s Chicago office and later returned to San Francisco as District Sales Manager.
In the mid-1980s, John joined the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) as Director of Marketing and Chapter Services.
Several years later, he was entrusted with opening PATA’s European representative office in Monaco, where he served for eight years before retiring in 2000.
- John worked with Dr. Newton B. Drury at Save the Redwoods League San Francisco
- District Sales Manager for Air New Zealand in Chicago and San Francisco
- SKAL President, San Francisco
- Foreign Travel Club President, San Francisco
- Managing Director Europe for Pacific Asia Travel Association HQ in Monaco
Former PATA Chairman Michael Paulin later recalled traveling with John to chapters throughout Europe promoting sustainability. John would eventually head PATA’s environmental and sustainability work—well before sustainability became one of tourism’s defining priorities.
Father and Son: A PATA Legacy
The Semone family’s relationship with tourism did not end with John.
Peter Semone has publicly recalled that his own PATA journey began through his father’s work establishing the association’s European presence in Monte Carlo.
Peter would go on to spend more than three decades working across Asia-Pacific tourism, including tourism development, education and destination planning. He founded the Lao National Institute of Tourism and Hospitality (LANITH) and worked with international development organizations before eventually becoming Chairman of PATA.
There is something special in that symmetry. A father helped carry PATA into Europe. Decades later, his son was entrusted with leading the association. Different generations and different journeys, but a shared belief in tourism’s ability to connect people.
The Business—and the Beauty—of Tourism
The Semone family story is also a reminder that tourism is about much more than arrivals, airline seats, hotel rooms and economic impact.
That is the business of tourism. But tourism is also a young American boarding a ship for Europe in 1958. It is a young German woman crossing the Atlantic. It is an invitation to play shuffleboard.
It is two people who otherwise might never have met, creating a marriage, a family and a lifetime together.
That is the beauty of tourism.\ John understood both.
A Lifetime of Service
John’s leadership extended beyond his professional career. He served as Chairman of the PATA Northern California Chapter, President of SKAL San Francisco, and President of the Foreign Travel Club of San Francisco. He also volunteered in the campaign to Save the Cable Cars.
He is survived by his beloved wife Gerlinde; his son Peter; daughter Sabrina; five grandchildren—Morgan, Simone, Madyson, Savannah and Hunter—and a worldwide family of friends and colleagues.
For the tourism industry, John Albert Semone was part of a generation that helped build international travel. For Gerlinde, he was the young man she met aboard the Hanseatic. For Peter and Sabrina, he was Dad. And for five grandchildren, he was Grandpa.
Perhaps the best measure of a life in tourism is not how many countries someone visited, but what those journeys left behind.
John’s childhood fascination with distant places became a career. A voyage to Europe became a marriage. His tourism career became service. His work with PATA became part of a family legacy.
Those orange crates filled with travel brochures by a dreaming boy in Michigan ultimately became something much bigger.
They became a life, a family, and friendships around the world.
John Albert Semone spent a lifetime helping people discover the world. Along the way, the world gave him a remarkable life in return.
Rest in peace, John. May the journey continue through all those you inspired.
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