John Molleson, 85, Was Veteran and Journalist

John Dalton Molleson, a former staff writer for the New York Herald Tribune and other publications, died on Nov. 26 in his home in Southampton, Long Island, after a brief illness. He was 85.

Mr. Molleson began his newspaper career at the Vineyard Gazette. In 1949, he joined the New York Herald Tribune where he covered the United Nations, metropolitan news, and wrote music and theatre reviews. After the Tribune folded in 1966, he worked for The World Journal Tribune and then Parade Magazine. He also ran the public relations department at the Manhattan School of Music and wrote speeches for Marion Anderson.

Born in Manhattan on March 13, 1918, he was graduated from Columbia University in 1940. He completed his master's degree at the Columbia School of Journalism in 1941 before serving in the Pacific theatre with the Army Air Corps during World War II, attaining the rank of major.

He is survived by his second wife, Eleanor Pompili Molleson, whom he married in 1984; two daughters from his first marriage, and one grandchild.