West DSM News

Iowa lost "an incredible public servant" when Republican Iowa state Rep. John Landon passed away late last month, State House Rep. Jake Chapman (R-Adel) said in a Facebook post this past weekend.

"Iowa lost an incredible public servant," Chapman, who represents Iowa State House District 10, said in his July 31 Facebook post. "Rep. Landon was a fantastic legislator but more importantly he was genuinely someone you could call friend. You will be missed, but you left your mark not only in your service but in the hearts of those you touched!"

Iowa State House Rep. Jake Chapman (R-Adel) | legis.iowa.gov/

Landon, whose profession was in agriculture and real estate, was serving his fourth term in Iowa's State House where he'd represented the 37th District since 2013 when died at 71 on Thursday, July 29 following a months-long battle with cancer.

He was born in 1950 and raised near State Center.

"My grandfather and my dad were dairy farmers," Landon said during a Vimeo interview in November. "I grew up on the dairy farm, I'm stranger to work."

Landon was a West Marshall High School graduate who went on to earn a bachelor's degree in agriculture business from Iowa State University and was a Navy Seabee, serving in Vietnam. He was a member of the Ankeny Area Chamber of Commerce and was a longtime leader in Polk County Republicans. He was a Cub Scout Pack 87 and Boy Scout Troop 188 leader for about a dozen years and was a deacon and stewardship committee leader at Cornerstone Baptist Church in Ankeny.

His wife posted to Facebook, shortly after her husband's passing, that he'd died at 3:45 p.m.

"John Landon entered into Glory surrounded by love of his family," Marvis Landon said in the post. "With great faith, we know that he was received into Heaven as a good and faithful servant. He fearlessly knew that God has a plan for him. We will profoundly miss our Husband Father and Grandfather until we see him again."

Chapman was only one of many Iowa politicians who expressed themselves in social media following Landon's passing.

"Representative John Landon was the definition of a citizen legislator," U.S. House Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks, who represents Iowa's 2nd congressional district, said in her own Facebook post. "His commitment to his family, Iowans, and the constitution was unquestionable."

Miller-Meeks added that she and her husband, Curt Meeks, would keep Landon's "family, friends, and loved ones in our thoughts and prayers."