Resident of Los Gatos

John Farrell Hopkins was born on September 5, 1932 in Watsonville, CA and passed away on July 12, 2025.

John was an outstanding student at Watsonville High, played all sports and was student body president. He received a full scholarship to Stanford University and Stanford Law School and was elected president of the Law Review. He was also amember of Phi Beta Kappa, and The Order of the Coif. With three friends, John formed the law firm of Hopkins, Jordan, Mitchell and Sullivan in San Jose, which eventually merged with another firm to become Hopkins & Carley, and in the fall of 2024 became Lathrop GPM. John focused on taxes and estate planning.

He completed the Marriage & Family Counseling graduate program at Santa Clara University which he felt helped to better serve his clients.

John was soft-spoken and humble, and his caring made him a sought after mentor for many attorneys and others in the community. Supporting non-profits was important to John and he encouraged every member of the firm to serve on non-profit boards. He particularly appreciated serving on the board of Eastfield Ming Quong (now Pacific Clinics) for over a decade and enjoyed being a member of San Jose Rotary because of their community involvement.

As amember of the Planned Giving Council of Pacific Clinics, John counseled on ways their donors could leave legacy gifts because he believed strongly that we need to treat our community as if it were one of our children during our lives.

John also attended many seminars offered by the Guild for Psychological Studies and eventually started and lead his own group until his retirement.

Valerie will tell you she married John for his gentleness and wonderfully subtle sense of humor as well as his wisdom and quiet strength of character. John enjoyed traveling, sometimes with backpacks, to Europe and Israel.

Their favorite trip was a two-week safari in Tanzania with four close friends.

John was an avid reader and his dedication to learning made him conversant with Jung, the Bible, poetry and non-fiction.

John was preceded in death by his first wife Alice Russell and children John Jr. and Lisa Hopkins.

He is survived by his wife Valerie, daughter Sue, son Tim (Stacy), stepsons David (Michelle), Scott and Ken Anderson, grandchildren, Corbin, Natalie and Sam Hopkins, and great grandchildren Ruth Pittman and Ashley and Rocky Anderson.

A celebration of John's life will be held on Thursday, August 7, 2025 at 4:00pm, at the History Club of Los Gatos, 123 Los Gatos Blvd. Please rsvp by July 31st to: https://johnhopkins-celebration.rsvpify.com Your rsvp will help us plan accordingly.

Gifts in John’s memory may be made to any non-profit of choice.