John Uilkema Remembered
John K. Uilkema died peacefully at home in Piedmont on January 5, 2026 at the age of 90. John was born in Illinois on March 11, 1935 to Mildred and T. John Uilkema. John grew up in Indiana and attended the University of Michigan, obtaining a degree in Mechanical Engineering. He then studied law at George Washington University in Washington D.C. at night while he worked by day as a patent examiner. John was licensed to practice law in multiple jurisdictions, and started his practice at Shell Oil in Emeryville before transitioning to the patent, trademark and copyright firm of Naylor and Neil in San Francisco, where he soon became a named partner.
In the 1980’s, John moved his law practice to Limbach, Limbach and Sutton in the Ferry Building of San Francisco where he served for years as managing partner. John was very active in the American Bar Association and held positions on the Board of Directors, was president of the Patent Section, and was elected to the House of Delegates for multiple decades well past his retirement. He received numerous awards for his over 50 years of service. Later in his career, he worked at Thelen, Reid and Preist and then at the boutique Intellectual Property firm of Dergosits & Noah. John was a past-president of SFIPLA (1974-1975).
John is predeceased by his sister Jackie, and survived by his wife Gail, daughters Lynn (Damien), Sharon (Curtiss), and grandchildren Natalie, Nicholas, Henry and Sophie. If you would like to do something in memory of John, please go to the Orinda Village Cafe and have a lovely meal and think of him. He would recommend the three egg omelet with the waffle.
To plant trees in memory, please visit the Sympathy Store.
John’s full obituary can be viewed here.