About John Adair
John Adair was born and raised in Hollywood, CA.
His father was a brilliant electronics engineer and pioneer in the development of television. His mother was a socialite involved with women’s fashion wear who never lost her passion for travel.
During his early years, he attended several schools including Catholic schools and military boarding schools—but also studied abroad having lived in Mexico and Switzerland. He speaks Spanish fluently … and has even written a couple poems in Spanish.
He learned to play chess at age ten. He played family members, classmates, and complete strangers. Later, he started recording and analyzing his games … reading chess books … … competing in tournaments. He founded the Los Angeles Valley College Chess Club and was its first president. Several years later he won his first tournament at the Gym for the Mind chess club with a perfect score, having won all eight games: (+8-0=0). He never lost his passion for this beautiful game.
Tragedy Strikes the Family
In 1996, he and his family suffered a painful experience when his brother Robert was murdered in his home, in the middle of the day, while on his lunch break. It shook the entire family to its core.
John was able to channel a lot of his anger, frustration and sense of loss through the creative process. One of the aforementioned poems that he composed in Spanish, was written in honor and memory of his brother Robert. Its title: Hermanito. It didn’t start out as a poem, but as a letter to his brother, then switched to Spanish because it lent itself more to the type of things he wanted to say, then switched to a fully metered and rhymed poem with 15 stanzas. It took two years and nine months to complete, but by the end of that process, he found an inner calm … and acceptance.
Photo: Clockwise from top: Mom, Robert, Danny & John (Our sister Simone was in the U.S. Coast Guard)
Volunteer Work
In 2002, he was elected to the Board of Directors, Greater Toluca Lake Neighborhood Council, (GTLNC) and served a three-year term as Treasurer, and chaired or served on a half-dozen committees. He also wrote and/or co-wrote all of the newspaper articles for the Tolucan Times informing the community of upcoming events, neighborhood issues, votes, etc. He points out this was a volunteer position (no pay), and the first time that he got to serve on a local governing board that partnered with the City of Los Angeles.
Here are John’s thoughts on the spirit of volunteer work: “It’s all about involvement and interaction with other people toward a common purpose: to build better, stronger and safer neighborhoods and communities. The funny thing is, when one gives of oneself, it usually produces a deeply satisfying experience for the person involved in that way.”
Photo: From left to right: JHV President, Arnold Heileman,
California State Governor, Pete Wilson, and John Adair
The other organizations that John volunteered his time to were Justice for Homicide Victims (JHV), a 501c3, where he served as a board member for a dozen years. One of their core missions was to rebalance the scales of justice, especially with violent, criminal, repeat offenders. John flew to Sacramento seven consecutive years with other board members to affect legislative change. Later, he served a three- year stint (2015-2017) as a board member for his dear friend Patricia Wenskunas’ Crime Survivor’s Inc. (CSI). One of the challenges that he took up, was to write/rewrite the honoree citations for So. California district, and deputy district attorneys, also, law enforcement personnel that were being recognized at CSI’s annual gala events. “The trick was to pack a lot of punch in just a half-to-three-quarters of a page. One year, they honored 35 individuals. So it had to be bold but brief. Not easy.”
Photo: From left to right: CSI CEO Patricia Wenskunas, John Adair & fellow board member Frances Rodriguez.
Professional Career
Professionally, he worked as a mortgage & real estate broker … mostly in CA, then a couple years in NV (1996-2014), helping clients either purchase or refinance their homes.
John describes the first time he worked for a mortgage brokerage house as a liberating experience. Instead of being equipped with just one or two loans—a one-size-fits-all profile—now he had dozens of loan products to offer all of his clients’ differing needs. During a short but active mortgage career which started with “sub-prime” loans to creditimpaired borrowers, he later offered FHA, VA, & conventional 30-year-fixed loans, 2/28, 3/27 and 5/1 ARMs, equity lines-of-credit (Helocs), 2nd mortgages, and commercial loans (5-units or more). He also brokered about a dozen real estate transactions.
Market Downturns
The housing collapse of 2008 was a challenging time for anyone in the mortgage industry. What followed next was an implosion of the credit markets. John lost about two-thirds of his income over night. He says, “If you weren’t doing “loan modifications” and “short sales”, you weren’t doing much at all.” In that type of fast changing environment, you either adapted, or you got out of the business. He adapted. His fluid negotiating style on behalf of his clients secured them better rates, lower loan balances and/or lower payments. His clients paid him anywhere between $500 to $2500 for his services.
Honorable Mention
There’s a handful of loans where John feels that he did exceptional work … that is, where he went above and beyond the boundaries of a mortgage broker. In one such case, John had been working on a “loan mod” for his client for several months. During the negotiations, he sensed that the bank was stringing him along so they could repossess the property through foreclosure. The date was fast approaching and he smelled danger. Through referrals, he found a reputable bankruptcy (BK) attorney, interviewed the attorney and made an appointment. Then he called his client, explained the urgency of the matter, and had him meet the following morning at the attorney’s office.
She was great! Reassuring but straightforward, she was able to grasp his big-picture financial situation within a short time. She then asked, “Are you able to come up with X amount to service your current debt load?” His client answered, “No”, and she said it was in his best interest to file a Chapter 7 BK … ASAP. She explained that it would stop the foreclosure dead in its tracks. So that’s what his client did. He paid her right there on the spot for her services, and John’s client saved his million-dollar hilltop home. This was very satisfying for John as three of the four parties involved were happy with the results.
A Nagging Question
With short sales, the same thing. He negotiated fair settlements on the sale of homes that were mostly upside-down—meaning, the seller received little or no money. This leaves a nagging question: where does a seller move to when they’ve just lost their home? At his clients’ request, John got involved in helping them purchase mobile homes. While navigating uncharted waters, he found a contact … an “expert” on mobile homes, and was able to learn the business quickly. Next, he arranged private financing through a dear personal friend, Ron “Boy” Richards. He ended up replicating this model three times. John says, “Sometimes, all you have to do is listen carefully .. then act accordingly.”
John was also the editor for both the Prodigy Financial Group and Family Mortgage Newsletters that featured monthly articles on finance and real estate. One of John’s colleagues at Family Mortgage translated an entire issue—all four pages—to Mandarin Chinese.
Tragedy Strikes Again
Photo: From left to right: John, Camille, Marisol & her mom, Enery
(At a Roaring Twenties themed-party)
John was married for 27 years, but after the untimely death of his wife Marisol in September, 2011, he relocated to Las Vegas, NV the following year.
Exactly seven days after her death—on the day of the funeral
services—he was in their upstairs bedroom and something told him to open the top drawer of her nightstand. It was really weird because he had never thought to open it. But he did … and there on top was a manila envelope with his name on it. He knew. He just knew. His heart was pounding strongly. He opened the envelope and inside was literally, a “Dear John” letter. While reading the letter, there was one line …“I hope you can forgive me.” And John says if he has ever shown a powerful sign as to profess his Christian faith, then it was there in that moment when he belted out loudly that he forgave her … unequivocally and unconditionally, he forgave her. After reading the whole letter of about three pages, he then fell to the floor in a pile of goo .. he was a sobbing mess. Remember, this was the day of the funeral services so he had to suck it up and pull it together.
He was speaking to a friend and former associate, Mona Lisa Smith, about Marisol’s passing, but it was something she said before hanging up that really struck him. She said, “John, just want to tell you one thing: embrace the pain.” John says he got it right away. For him it meant he had permission to cry. And cry he did, for the next three months he cried everyday until about mid-December when his daughter called saying she was coming home for the Christmas break. It was odd, but before his daughter called, John noticed it was the first day he had not cried since his wife’s death. He still went through a roller-coaster of emotions—regret, sorrow, anger, guilt, etc.—but Mona Lisa’s advice provided a powerful cathartic release, and the best therapy and medicine he could’ve had. John quotes from the Lebanese-American poet & author, Khalil Gibran—“Love knows not its own depth until the hour of separation.”
Other Interests
Photo: Rock scrambling somewhere in the Angeles Crest Mountains
John was an avid hiker for 18 years … 2-to-10-mile treks, 40/50 lb. pack, 45 degree inclines for starts and final ascents were preferable. “After a while, your body starts to crave for the grit and the grind.” His other interests include music, meditation, books, jazz, art, cooking pasta, travel and writing. Since 2017, he’s become a fan of cruise ship travel—he says, you can travel to many places and experience a lot of stuff. vs. visiting one place and spending all your time there. One of the things they’ll do is to “visit” the port city of embarkation—so if the ship departs from Lisbon, Portugal, they’ll spend three-to four days exploring that city. “You paid for the flight there; you might as well.”
Published Author
John Adair is a published author of two books with a third book due out before end of year. His first book, Chess Basics: A Tutorial for Beginning & Intermediate Players, was published in 2023. His second publication is the Spanish translation of Chess Basics:
Conceptos Básicos del Ajedrez. That project started at the suggestion of his publishers; Nindy Publishing House, and was released in July, 2025. Both books can be purchased at amazon.com.
The third book—a book of quotations—has been in the making since 2001.
Just Saying: 1001 of the Greatest Motivational/Inspirational Quotes of All Time. John kept a notebook of impactful quotes that were arranged by category. It was a small collection, maybe about 50 or 60. Then, on a recent visit with his daughter Camille, she invited him on the last day to the new U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Museum in Colorado Springs. It was awesome, and John came away with about seven or eight utterly fantastic motivational quotes that were added to his notebook. As he was rearranging the new quotes—voilà! The idea for the quote book hit him like a thunderbolt.
Photo: Camille and her father sharing a tender moment … in Santa Monica, CA
Personal
Currently, John lives in Las Vegas, NV, and keeps busy as a writer and part-time tour guide. He and his girlfriend Amy, like little getaways—Seattle, San Pedro, Mesquite, Tucson, Puerto Vallarta, Richmond, Los Angeles, Sarasota & Colorado—mainly to visit family & friends.
Photo: On tour at the Pat Tillman Memorial Bypass Bridge overlooking the Hoover Dam and Lake Mead.
He has always tried to remain positive and focused, but knows it requires conscious effort. John says things don’t always work out the way you want. His favorite antidote: “There’s always one more thing you can do to influence any situation to your favor. Then one more thing after that, and still, one more thing after that.”
Life is full of twists and turns … full of heartaches and challenges, and sometimes, you have no choice but to play the hand dealt to you. Okay. But we all have the free will to get involved he says. Step out of your comfort zone. Mentor young people. Speak before small groups. Volunteer your time. John says if you can’t find your purpose, then follow your passion. It’s been a good journey, but he believes he still has a lot of runway in front of him. John leaves his readers with another quote he hopes brings value: “The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is Now.”