San Bernardino Developer John Magness Passes

John Magness, market leader for Hillwood’s West Coast office in Ontario and decorated Desert Storm veteran, died Saturday, Feb. 4 from medical complications hours after reaching the 22,837-foot summit of Argentina’s Mount Aconcagua. Magness was 58 years old.

According to the San Bernardino Sun, Magness and two other Army vets had participated in the Aconcagua Challenge expedition to raise money and awareness for the Johnny Mac Soldiers Fund, which provides scholarships to military children of fallen service members.

Magness joined Hillwood in 1997 after meeting the company’s owner, Ross Perot, and in 2002 began overseeing the redevelopment of Norton Air Force Base. The AllianceCalifornia project was born to attract new businesses and bring jobs to the area. According a news release from 2017, AllianceCalifornia had yielded over $2.3 billion for San Bernardino with Stater Bros., Kohl’s and Mattel occupying warehouses. More recently, Amazon has moved into an air cargo logistics center developed by Hillwood at San Bernardino International Airport.

Magness is survived by his wife, Angie, and their children, Shelburne and John Michael. 

You can read more about John Magness and his military and commercial real estate career in this Connect Media Q&A from 2018.