John Mccone, Former Seattleite; Headed CIA, Major Corporations

John A. McCone, former Seattle resident who headed the Central Intelligence Agency and the Atomic Energy Commission, was said to never back away from a challenge - in the factory, in the boardroom or in government.

Mr. McCone, 89, died Thursday (Feb. 14) at his home in Pebble Beach, Calif. He served in high government positions under four presidents.

``Mr. McCone was sharp, tough and demanding - qualities that made him a highly effective and widely respected leader,'' William Webster, director of the CIA, said yesterday.

Webster said Mr. McCone, who headed the CIA from 1961 to 1965, ``made an enormous contribution to the security of this nation,'' providing crucial information to President Kennedy during the Cuban missile crisis.

For nearly three decades, Mr. McCone and his late wife, Theiline Pigott McCone, spent part of each year at his home in California and part at her home in Seattle's Highlands area. Mrs. McCone died last April.

Mr. McCone was known by his subordinates for his politeness, and by other administrators for his diligence, orderliness and perseverance.

Born in San Francisco in 1902, Mr. McCone graduated from the University of California at Berkeley in 1922 with a bachelor's degree in engineering, magna cum laude.

He began his career as a riveter in a Southern California ironworks, where he later became a surveyor and, by age 26, construction manager.

After that company merged with others to form the Consolidated Steel Corp., Mr. McCone rose through positions including construction manager, vice president for sales, executive vice president and director.

In 1937, he and a partner formed their own engineering firm, the Bechtel-McCone Corp. in Los Angeles. Two years later, he helped form the Seattle-Tacoma Shipbuilding Corp., which built merchant ships.

In 1938, Mr. McCone married Rosemary Cooper of Nezperce, Idaho. She died in 1961; the couple had no children. The following year, Mr. McCone married Theiline Pigott in Seattle.

During World War II, Mr. McCone was president and general manager of the California Shipbuilding Corp., which operated the second-largest emergency shipyard in the country, building 467 ships during the war.

Through Bechtel-McCone, he also managed a plant in Alabama where B-24 and B-29 bombers were specially fitted for combat.

In 1947, Mr. McCone was appointed by President Truman to the Air Policy Commission, which recommended strengthening the nation's Air Force. He was named special deputy to the secretary of defense in 1948 and became undersecretary of the Air Force in 1950.

From 1958 to 1961, he served as chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission under President Dwight Eisenhower, a close friend and golfing partner.

Mr. McCone was out of government just a short time before being tapped by President John Kennedy to take over the CIA, which he headed during the Kennedy and Johnson administrations until 1965.

After leaving that job, he returned to his position as chairman of his steamship company, the Joshua Hendy Corp. in California.

In the years since, Mr. McCone served on many government boards and commissions, including heading a commission that looked into the causes of the 1965 riots in Los Angeles and recommended ways to improve the conditions of minorities.

He also held positions on many corporate boards, including those of International Telephone & Telegraph Co., TWA, PACCAR, Standard Oil of California and the Pacific Mutual Life Insurance Co.

Mr. McCone's survivors include his sister, Mary Louise Shelby of El Toro, Calif., stepsons Charles Pigott, chairman and chief executive office of PACCAR; James Pigott, president of MR&S Inc., and stepdaughters Ann Wyckoff, Theiline Scheumann and Mary Ellen Hughes, all of the Seattle area.

Private funeral services are pending. The family suggests that memorials may be made to the Monterey Institute of International Studies (McCone Building Fund) in Monterey, Calif., or the Virginia Mason Medical Foundation in Seattle.