John McCandless, Neighbor

CAPT John G. McCandless, USN (Ret), retired from the U.S. Navy in June 1999 after 32 years of active and reserve service.

His civilian career was focused on automotive public relations. He retired as a senior member of Toyota’s U.S. Corporate Communications team in October 2011. As the National Manager – Field Operations, Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc. (TMS), he oversaw the company’s regional corporate communications offices in Detroit, New York, Miami, Dallas, Houston, Phoenix and Seattle. Upon his retirement, he established Road Reports, an automotive information and counseling firm.

He s a founding member and vice president of the Michigan Armed Forces Hospitality Center, Inc., (www.MIFreedomCenter.org) a 501(c)3 organization, which established Freedom Center at Detroit Metropolitan Airport on Veterans Day 2011. In addition, he is vice chairman of the USS DETROIT (LCS 7) COMMISSIONING COMMITTEE (ussdetroitlcs7.com), which will be commissioned in Detroit this August.

McCandless is contributor to OpEd pages of THE DETROIT NEWS and NAPLES DAILY NEWS, as well as an active participant in the Department of Defense Bloggers Roundtable (dodlive.mil), Navy Memorial Foundation blog (navymemorial.org) and other blog sites. He frequently is interviewed by print, radio and television media on naval, veteran and military matters.

His professional affiliations include the Automotive Press Association (Detroit), the Detroit Press Club, the Naples Press Club, the US Naval Institute, the Navy Memorial Foundation, the Navy League of the United States, as well as numerous veteran service organizations.

A native of Detroit, McCandless earned a B.A. in Communication from Michigan State University in June 1969. Upon graduation, he was commissioned an Ensign in the US Naval Reserve. After active duty assignments on board the aircraft carrier USS AMERICA (CVA 66) and at the Pentagon, he remained in the Navy Reserve, retiring in 1999 as a Captain after 32 years of service. In the Reserve, he commanded four Naval Public Affairs units in Detroit, Chicago and Great Lakes, Illinois and headed the media training teams for senior Naval officers at the Naval War College and other locations.

He has been a guest lecturer at the University of Michigan, Michigan State University, University of Detroit/Mercy, the Naval War College, as well as before various professional organizations.

McCandless and his wife, Roberta, have residences in Grosse Pointe Woods, Michigan and Ft. Myers Beach, Florida. They have five grown children.