John Cadwallader Kanode, N4MM (SK), of Boyce, Virginia, passed away on January 13, 2026. He was 88 years old. First licensed in 1952, Kanode served on the Board of Directors of ARRL The National Association for Amateur Radio for 21 years, first as Roanoke Division Vice Director, then Director, and Vice President. He was a member of the ARRL Maxim Society (President Class), a Life Member, and was named ARRL Honorary Vice President in 2023.
A remembrance from his hometown radio club, the Shenandoah Valley Amateur Radio Club, of which he was a founding member, notes that Kanode made hundreds of thousands of contacts in his lifetime, earning nearly every top award available to amateur radio operators from every nation in the world. He attained DXCC Honor Roll, the DXCC Challenge Award, CQ DX Hall of Fame in 2000, and in 2025 he earned the latest ARRL award, the DXCC Trident.
In 1984, Kanode received the ARRL Roanoke Division Special Service Award. He also served as manager of the W4/K4/N4 ARRL QSL Bureau, and as a Volunteer Examiner (VE) he had 223 VE sessions to his credit. He was a member of the Quarter Century Wireless Association (QCWA), AMSAT – The Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation, the International DX Association (INDEXA), and the International Radio Club of America (IRCA). He also belonged to the North Shenandoah DX Association, the National Capitol DX Association, and the Potomac Valley Radio Club.
Kanode served in the US Air Force, and worked several years with Sandia Corporation in New Mexico, retiring from IBM in 1993.
A memorial service will be held 11 AM on Tuesday, January 27, 2026, at Enders & Shirley Funeral Home Chapel, Berryville, Virginia (see obituary).
Special thanks to Elizabeth Cottrell, W4EHC, and the Shenandoah Valley Amateur Radio Club for information included in this memorial.