Mitchell, John Joseph, 1945-

Biography

John James Mitchell, Jr. was born in Chicago on April 28, 1897 to a prominent banker and his wife. He was raised in the Chicago area and attended Yale University. After serving as an aviator in the U.S. Naval Reserve Force during World War I, he took a position at the Illinois Merchant Trust and Savings Bank, where his father was president. In 1925, Mitchell joined an elite group of young investors, all of whom were pilots during the war, in forming National Air Transport, a small company with ten cargo-carrying airplanes that would eventually evolve into United Airlines. In 1937, Mitchell joined the United Airlines board of directors, where he would remain for 42 years.

It was during the 1920s that Jack Mitchell began making regular visits to the Santa Barbara area, and in 1929 he bought a large property on Zaca Lake that he named Rancho Juan y Lolita. He and several friends organized a group they called Los Rancheros Visitadores, which would hold annual "treks" on horseback around the California countryside. Mitchell served as the first president of the group, whose members and guests would include Edward Borein, Thomas Storke, Clark Gable, and Walt Disney. For 25 years, Mitchell led Los Rancheros Visitadores, and in 1979 he was inducted into the Cowboy Hall of Fame in Oklahoma City.

Along with his wife, Olga, and his three children, J. J. Mitchell lived at Rancho Juan y Lolita until the early 1960s, when he sold the property to movie star Jimmy Stewart. He then donated many of his belongings to various organizations, including books and manuscripts to UCSB Special Collections. The Mitchells lived in Montecito until his death on April 7, 1985.

From the guide to the J. J. Mitchell Collection, ca. 1828-1945, (University of California, Santa Barbara. Library. Department of Special Collections)