Artist John A. Noble and his son John on the Staten Island Ferry in 1951

John Noble, the oldest son of the late Staten Island maritime artist John A Noble, passed away on July 11, 2025 at Georgetown University Hospital in Washington, D.C. while undergoing treatment for cancer. He was 85.

John, who was known to his family and close friends as Buff, grew up on Richmond Terrace in St. George and graduated from Curtis High School in 1956 and Staten Island Academy in 1957. The early years were difficult growing up in a poor, struggling artist’s household. He always had to work hard as a young man to help support the family, holding such jobs as a golf caddy at La Tourette Golf Course, pushing a hand truck in New York’s famous garment district, working in a carnival in Florida, and delivering bread and baked goods for Dugan Brothers in the Catskills.

Following high school, with no funds to get to college, he hitchhiked with a suitcase and typewriter in hand to Juniata College in Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, where he went on to earn a bachelor's degree in 1961. Upon graduating from college, John enlisted in the U.S. Army where he rose to the rank of Sergeant in the Intelligence Corp. While stationed at Fort Holabird in Baltimore, he met Carol Souder, whom he married in 1963.

Following his discharge from the Army, he attended George Washington University Law School at night, and earned his juris doctor degree in 1969 and joined the Maryland Bar in 1970. He practiced law in Rockville, Maryland and eventually formed the firm of Noble and Crow. Although he had a general practice, he concentrated on trial work, Worker's Compensation, and probate. Despite his difficult battle with cancer in recent years, he remained stoic and continued to service clients and was practicing until the time of his death.

John—along with his younger brother, Allan—was a long-time supporter of the Noble Maritime Collection, the Staten Island museum named for their father. John and Allan’s donation of their father's art, personal effects, and his famous houseboat studio established the core collection of the museum, which was founded in the former Noble family home in St. George before relocating to Snug Harbor Cultural Center in 1992. John attended practically every one of the museum’s art auction fundraisers, which have been held annually since 1988, and only missed last year because of health issues. These same health issues kept him from attending the successful opening of the John A. Noble exhibition at the Norwegian Maritime Museum in Oslo in April. John and Allan took their father’s famous Chesapeake Bay racing log canoe, Flying Cloud, back to the Chesapeake Bay in the 1970s and restored her and raced her there for many years. A photograph of the brothers and their father in a rowboat on the Kill Van Kull, taken by the boys' mother Susan in 1948, is part of photographer Michael Falco's mural Where Marsh Meets the Sea installed in the St. George Ferry Terminal in 2007 and seen by millions of ferry riders each year.

Allan, John, and John A. Noble on a rowboat at Port Johnston on the Kill Van Kull, captured by Susan Noble in 1948

John was a passionate long-distance runner, running his 50th marathon on his 50th birthday and continuing to run marathons and multiple 50-mile races after that. He ran in the first New York City marathon in 1977 and the Boston and Marine Corps marathons multiple times.

John’ wife Carol died in January 2020 and their daughter Anne Noble Eiseman died in December 2019. He is survived by his son John Timothy Noble, daughter-in-law Wendy Ouelette, son-in-law Eric Eiseman, grandsons Calvin, Max, and James, his brother Allan, and sister-in-law Kathy Noble.

A memorial service will be held at 11:30 AM on Saturday, August 9, 2025 at St. John's Evangelical Lutheran Church, 4629 Aspen Hill Rd., Rockville, MD 20853. Please see colefuneral.com for the full obituary. In lieu of flowers, donations to the Noble Maritime Collection would be greatly appreciated.