A great friend and mentor, and the best broadcast director I ever worked with...
I met Jerry when I first started working as a corporate producer and, right from the start, he challenged me with thoughtful, sharp questions before every show. He often exposed my inexperience with his questions, so I learned quickly that thinking through what he might ask and being able to answer his questions before he could ask them, made me a significantly better producer. Of course, as hard as I tried, he always had a question. :) Eventually, instead of asking the group if they had any questions at the end of a crew chat, I would simply end the chat with, "Any questions, Jerry?" He would chuckle and, if I had managed to answer all of his questions, he would still ask, "Does John have access to the deck?", usually reminding me to give John access to the deck. 😅
Jerry was an intuitive director and a true master of his craft. Watching his broadcasts was like having him in your head, showing you exactly what you wanted to see. You could feel the ease, delight, and satisfaction in his work through the screen, and he was always full of ideas and wanting to make the viewer experience better. Jerry made a huge up level to our program in the last year, taking a dated livestream look we created during the pandemic, and turning it into one that will soon become a new standard in our events program. It was a nice gift for him to leave us with and I believe it will be known as "The Jerry Look" in our program moving forward.
Jerry was also one of the kindest and most engaging people in the control room. He knew how to connect with people and he could always make you laugh, sometimes even when he wasn't trying to! We once had conversation about a pair of boots I bought that had these leather tassels hanging from the zipper. He told me how he really liked the tassels because without them they would just be plain boots. Later, when we were getting ready for a crew chat, he leaned over and asked another crew member if he had seen my tassels. The crew member seemed visibly uncomfortable, which made me start laughing. It made Jerry laugh too, so he clarified that he was talking about my boots! 😂
Last year, Jerry asked me to talk to one of the young producers he had become friends with at the news station. He said she wasn't sure what was next for her, and he thought I would be a good person for her to connect with. We set up a call, had a great conversation, and became instant friends. As a result, the three of us, and one of our favorite graphics ops, started connecting more consistently outside of work, deepening my friendship with Jerry, and reinforcing how special it was to have him in my life.
Jerry passed in his sleep last week and I can't seem to process it. His energy is still so present. It's a huge loss for us -- but, I can't help but think that for him it was such a lovely way to go. He worked his magic on the Chinese New Year parade broadcast for the local news station the night before, went to bed, and just never woke up...
With great respect and love, Jerry, rest in peace.
✨
