John A. Vibert, Memorial Park Founder, Dies

Funeral services will be held Monday for John A. Vibert, who was the president and general manager of Pacific View Memorial Park in Newport Beach and former president of the Newport Harbor Chamber of Commerce.

Vibert died of cancer Thursday at Hoag Hospital in Newport Beach. He was 73.

Born Jan. 20, 1916, in Pasadena, Vibert was graduated from Stanford University in 1938 with a degree in chemical engineering. He also attended the university’s Graduate School of Business, earning a master’s degree in business administration in 1942.

From 1938 through 1940, Vibert worked at the U.S. Consulate in Stuttgart, Germany.

Vibert joined the U.S. Navy as an ensign in 1940 and achieved the rank of lieutenant commander when he left the service in 1945 to enter the oil business.

In 1950, he joined the Inglewood Park Cemetery, where he was vice president and treasurer, and left in 1958 to found Pacific View Memorial, his daughter said.

Vibert had been very active in trade as well as such community organizations as the state Cemetery Board and Orange County Philharmonic Society.

He is survived by his wife, Maribelle Vibert, of Laguna Beach; daughters Laurie, of Palo Alto and Jeanne Sloane, of New York City; a sister, Elizabeth Moore, of Balboa, and grandsons John Arthur and William Robert Schofield.

Services will be held at 11 a.m. at the John A. Vibert Chapel at Pacific View Memorial Park, 3500 Pacific View Drive, Newport Beach. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that contributions be made to Hoag Hospital.