Obituary: John Williamson

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John Williamson, cofounder of Topanga Canyon’s Sandstone Retreat, died March 24 in Reno, Nev. at the age of 80.

Williamson was born on July 31, 1932 near Mobile, Ala. and joined the Navy when he was 17, according to The New York Times. In the Navy he traveled extensively, spending time in California and the South Pacific. He also worked in electrical engineering in Cape Canaveral, Fla. during the late 1950s before returning to California.

Williamson and his wife, Barbara, met in 1966 and married five weeks later. Soon after, the pair purchased a 15-acre piece of land overlooking the ocean in Topanga Canyon and founded the Sandstone Foundation For Community Systems Research. The retreat hosted seminars on human bonding, relationships and sexuality. It was most well-known for its nude visitors and free love mentality. Cofounder Williamson came to be known as the “messiah of sex.” The couple sold the Topanga retreat in 1973.

In more recent years, the Williamsons have been running a nonprofit sanctuary for rescued tigers and other large cats in Nevada.

Williamson is survived by wife Barbara, a daughter and a granddaughter.