1932 - 2024
OBITUARY
John was born in Manhattan, NYC on 10/24/1932. He passed away peacefully on 9/20/2024 at Vassar Hospital, Town of Poughkeepsie, NY. John was the son of the late Harold and Madeline Montville. John’s only sibling, Richard Montville, predeceased him in 2013. As a young man fresh out of high school, John found employment with Mack Trucks in New York City’s Empire State Building. While employed as a file clerk in the advertising department, John worked with the picture collection. John began writing about trucks for Automobile Quarterly. John’s work there was made possible in part through contacts he made when writing for Old Motor, a British magazine, in the mid-sixties. Automotive Quarterly hired John to prepare the 100 page truck section of their book The American Car since 1775, a complete listing of automobile manufacturers in the United States and Canada. During this period the idea of writing a book on trucks began to develop. It soon became apparent to John that there was enough material available to allow him to focus on a single make of truck. The result was the simply titled Mack, published in 1973 and considered by many to be the definitive written history of Mack Trucks. In this book, John was able to use some of the same factory photographs that he had helped to save many years prior. On the book’s dust jacket is a brief biography of the author. John was kind enough to include in the biography that he was a member of the Antique Truck Club of America, at that time a fledgling organization which most people had never heard of. John followed up Mack with a second offering: Bulldog, the World's Most Famous Truck, in 1979 and Refuse Trucks Photo Archive, in 2001. John has contributed to numerous other publications through the years, and his reputation as a commercial vehicle historian is recognized worldwide. In 2019, John Montville decided to donate his outstanding collection of truck literature to the Antique Truck Club of America. Efforts are underway to prepare for the transfer of this sizeable collection to the Boyertown Museum of Historic Vehicles, the home of ATCA. John was a well known automotive historian and ATCA founding member who will be greatly missed. Funeral services will be at Delehanty Funeral Home, 64 East Main St, Wappingers Falls, NY 12590 9/26/2024 at 11:00am. Christian burial will be at Poughkeepsie Rural Cemetery to follow.
VISITATION
Thursday, September 26
11:00 AM
Delehanty Funeral Home
64 East Main Street, Wappingers Falls, NY
GRAVESIDE SERVICE & INTERMENT
Thursday, September 26
12:30 PM
Poughkeepsie Rural Cemetery
342 South Avenue, Poughkeepsie, NY
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