John Hancock “Jack” Zenger

John Hancock “Jack” Zenger

November 13, 1931 - July 3, 2026

John Hancock “Jack” Zenger — beloved husband, father, grandfather, and world-renowned leadership expert — passed away on July 3, 2026 at the age of 94 from complications brought on by a rare autoimmune disorder. He was born on November 13, 1931 in Salt Lake City, Utah to John Henry Zenger and Leah Ruth Hancock.

Jack built a life defined by curiosity, service, hard work, and a great love for his church and his family. He was constantly thinking about new ways to build people and streamline processes, and during his 60+ year career, he became one of the world’s foremost authorities on leadership development. Jack never retired, and in his final days he was still mapping out the next ten years of his business and talking about ideas like artificial intelligence, the state of the world, and the next books he wanted to write.

As a young boy, Jack became intrigued with magic after watching a “ball and vase” trick performed by a fellow student. This led to many trips to the library with his father to look up everything he could read about magic. After many hours of practice, he became proficient, and was able to make much of his spending money during high school and college by performing for local events. He did magic shows throughout his entire life–during his mission, for BYU events, and for many church and family gatherings, including one performance at the world-famous Magic Castle venue in Los Angeles. As recently as a year ago, he was still performing magic shows for grandchildren.

Jack was a hard working student and he believed in the value of a good education. Jack distinguished himself in his own educational pursuits, earning a bachelor’s degree in psychology from BYU, an MBA from UCLA, and a doctorate in business administration from USC. At BYU he was elected Associated Men’s Student (AMS) President, and was chosen to debate two visiting Oxford scholars in front of the entire BYU student body during his senior year. During his graduate schooling, he received numerous awards and scholarships. In 1963, while at USC, he was chosen to travel through Europe with fellow graduate students from five US universities to meet with business leaders around the world.

Jack was fascinated with leadership, and he remembered being puzzled by the decision of a nurse at his father’s hospital who chose to decline a leadership opportunity. He personally felt he was better at leading than following, and his professional life reflected this. Following his doctorate, he taught for a year at USC, and then began consulting in the field of management development and training in the Los Angeles area. In 1966, he moved with his family to Palo Alto, California to be the Vice President of Human Resources at Syntex Corporation, while also teaching courses at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. From 1977-91, he was Co-Founder, President and CEO of Zenger-Miller, a firm the Wall Street Journal named one of the ten best suppliers of executive development in the country. After Zenger-Miller was purchased by Times Mirror Corporation in 1988, he served as a Group Vice President for Times Mirror, and then as President of Provant, a publicly traded combination of some twenty-one training companies. In 2003, after what he cheerfully described as an unsuccessful attempt at retirement, Jack co-founded Zenger Folkman with Joe Folkman, building a firm that used a vast database of 360 degree feedback assessments to better understand what makes leaders extraordinary.

Jack loved writing and thinking. He enjoyed pondering how to take research he discovered and present it in a way that would be useful and interesting to others. This led him to author over a dozen books, including the bestselling The Extraordinary Leader: Turning Good Managers into Great Leaders, The Extraordinary Coach, The Inspiring Leader, How to Be Exceptional, Speed, and Results-Based Leadership, which was named Best Business Book of 2000 by the Society for Human Resource Development.. He wrote hundreds of articles for various outlets, including the Harvard Business Review, and for many years was a columnist for Forbes. His research, writings, and leadership development tools continue to shape leadership practice in organizations worldwide.

Jack’s work in leadership made an important contribution to his field, and his professional colleagues honored him in nearly every way they could. In 1994, he was inducted into the Human Resources Development Hall of Fame. In 2005, he received a “Thought Leader” award from the International Society for Performance Improvement and Workplace Learning (ISA-ALP),and was listed as one of the top 100 minds on Leadership for that year. Nine years later, in 2014, the ISA-ALP broke tradition and chose to give him a second “Thought Leader” award for his further contributions to the field with colleague, Joe Folkman. Jack Zenger received numerous other high-level honors throughout his career, including being named the “Top Leader of the Year” by HR.com in 2014, and receiving The American Society for Training and Development’s Lifetime Achievement in Workplace Learning and Performance Award in 2011.

Jack also believed in giving back to his community, and he was given many opportunities in this arena, somehow often ending up being in charge. While living in Palo Alto, he was campaign manager for a slate of candidates running for office in the city who were all voted in. He served on the Human Rights Commission in Palo Alto from 1967-73, proposing legal methods for curbing racial discrimination by landlords. He served as the president of the Stanford Area Council for the Boys Scouts of America, receiving the Distinguished Citizen of the Year award in 1986. He was President of the BYU Alumni Association during 1977-78, which eventually led him to meet his wife, Holly in a fortuitous encounter in Salt Lake City. After moving to Utah, Jack was on the Board of Trustees at Utah Valley State College, and then on the Board of Regents for the State of Utah, where he served for 10 years and was involved in selecting multiple new university presidents. He was the Boosters President and a member of the Swiss Days committee in Midway, Utah, and in 2002, he helped with the Olympics by hosting 24 FBI agents in the family home, where these agents shared fascinating stories and demonstrations of their gear and “toys.” Jack was also deeply committed to supporting Holly’s passion for collecting and sharing nativity scenes (creches) with the community, and each Christmas season, Jack supported Holly in her efforts to invite the community to enjoy the spirit of their remarkable creche collection in their home and in other venues. In 2006, both Jack and Holly received honorary doctoral degrees from Utah Valley University, to honor their “significant philanthropic contributions and their deep commitment to leadership and community service in the state of Utah.”

Jack loved being a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He served a mission to the North Central States from 1951-1953, during which time he was part of a group of missionaries called the “Mormonaires” who traveled through the mission giving performances in many local venues and meetinghouses. Jack’s role in the group was performing magic and acting as Master of Ceremonies. While in college, Jack served as the Stake Young Men’s president, and in his 20s, he was a counselor in several bishoprics. He later served on the High Council, as a Bishop, and as a member of the stake presidency in Los Altos California. He loved these callings, but his favorite calling was teaching Gospel Doctrine, which he did for at least 35 years. When Jack was called as a new bishop, he wrote a note to his new ward about his belief that the gospel should be “fun, exciting…and exhilarating,… spreading like a brush fire in a high wind.”

Jack was a hard worker. He considered work fun, and he never had any desire to retire. He made it a study to eat well and stay fit, and he exercised every day while multi-tasking by reading and watching the national news. To maximize efficiency, he would shave using two razors at a time. One of his favorite forms of fun was playing word games with Holly on the couch every night, and reaching Genius level on the NY Times spelling bee game every morning. At his passing, his desk was covered with ideas for future blog posts/ books and lists of Spelling Bee words.

In spite of Jack’s work ethic, he was also a man who loved fun, and his sense of humor was legendary. He and Holly loved laughing together, and they managed to walk the fine line of laughing at themselves and each other without ever hurting each other. Their good humor was a magnetic force drawing family and friends to their sides. Jack was always ready for adventure, and many grandchildren remember him hanging upside down on ziplines, being towed by tubes behind speedboats and sliding down a terrifying waterslide well into his 80s. Jack also even tried his hand at sculpting a very lumpy mole, and earlier a frog, which was stolen from his company’s art show. He jokingly considered this theft to be one of the greatest honors of his life. Jack spoke often of how proud he was of his large family of 10 children, 37 grandchildren and 34 great grandchildren, and he felt incredibly blessed that they were all “doing good things with their lives.” He enjoyed spending time with them, and was always interested in what they were doing.

Jack had six Zenger children with Dixie Jenee Robison, his first wife, and then he was delighted to welcome another four Malmrose children into the family when he married Holly Olsen Malmrose in 1979. The circumstances of his meeting Holly following his divorce were the stuff of legend, as the hand of God was absolutely apparent in them getting together. Jack spoke often of the light, life and joy Holly brought into his life, and In some final conversations he especially emphasized his gratitude for Holly’s sense of humor and her good judgment.

Jack is survived by his wife, Holly Olsen Malmrose; his living children Robin Zenger Baker, Roger Malmrose (Judy), Todd Zenger (Shawn), Kirk Malmrose (Audrey), Blake Zenger (Diane), Lori Malmrose Carmack, Mitch Zenger (Kelly), Drew Zenger (Sondra), Mike Malmrose (Lindsey), and predeceased by his son Mark Zenger (Jennifer, still living) and son-in-law Rich Baker.

A Memorial Service will be held on Friday, July 10 at 1 pm MT in the LDS Chapel at 165 N. Center Street, Midway UT 84049.

In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations to the John H. and Holly Zenger Endowed Scholarship at Utah Valley University: https://engage.uvu.edu/zengerscholarship

For those unable to attend, services will be streamed via Zoom. Please click on the "Watch Services" link above.