John William Ormand III

John William Ormand III, 61, died in Knightdale, NC on July 14, 2023. John grew up on the Intracoastal Waterway in Wilmington, North Carolina and lived in rural Wake County for many years. He graduated from Wake Forest University, magna cum laude, majoring in History where he met his wife of 33 years Angie DeMent. He received his law degree from the University of  North Carolina School of Law with honors.  John practiced law as a trial lawyer for 36 years with Brooks, Pierce, McLendon, Humphrey & Leonard, LLP. John had many wonderful accomplishments as a parent to his children Will and Rachel.  He coached his son Will’s soccer team (CASL) from second to eleventh grade, culminating in winning the challenge soccer league’s state championship. John’s passion for logic and numbers led Will to major in philosophy at Wake Forest University, and he now has a career as a mortgage broker. He fostered his daughter Rachel’s love to read and dream to become a lawyer herself; Rachel graduated from Wake Forest University School of Law in 2022 and practices civil litigation in Raleigh. John taught his kids all about birds, fish, constellations, scuba diving, and the joy of being in nature. John was a scholar and aficionado of his interests, with extraordinary dedication and gusto. He loved to talk about his interests and drew others to join him. In addition to fishing, hiking and photographing nature, his principal recreational pursuits were bicycle riding and scuba diving. In 2020, John took his family to Hawaii where his children became scuba certified and were able to do many dives together. In 2022, John and son Will enjoyed more than 60 dives together in Florida, Maui, and North Carolina.  John encouraged his children to live their lives to the fullest and to embrace a “practice aloha” lifestyle. John fought a long and heroic battle with cancer. John tended to be an overachiever, so it came as no surprise that this cancer was one of the most aggressive and his fight one of the longest. Through years of tough cancer treatments, John continued to ride his bike for over 100 miles per week and to practice law at a high level.  

He is survived by his wife, Angie DeMent; son, John William Ormand IV (daughter-in-law Mallie); daughter Rachel Ormand Laughery (son-in-law Zane Laughery), his parents John and Betsy Ormand, sisters: Lisa, RueAnn, Kristin and Maggi; brothers-in-law: Stewart Taylor, Mark Beesley and Ben McCollum; sister-in-law, Winnie DeMent (Joe Walsh) and brother-in-law, Rusty DeMent; and many nieces, nephews, cousins, aunts and uncles. The family is forever grateful to Kim Greer for her invaluable support and care for John in his last months.

The family will have a private ceremony this upcoming weekend, and there will be a much larger celebration of life in late August or early September at a TBD location. For details, please contact Will or Rachel in early August, their email addresses are willormand94@gmail.com and ormandrachel@gmail.com, respectively.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests spending some time in the great outdoors or in the deep ocean with your loved ones in his memory or donating to the REEF Society, American Cancer Society, and BikeWalk NC.

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