Goodbye, Jerry

John's Eulogy for Jerry

A while back, I published a link to a PDF download of my eulogy for Dad.

Since then, my brother, John Davidoff, published his eulogy on the blog for his business, Davidoff Communications in Chicago.

This is a link to John's eulogy. It's accompanied by a great photo of Dad and John, shown below.

Some of what John wrote:

Hi Dad. It’s John. “Big John!” as you bellowed out my whole life...

I have been taking stock of my own life, in relationship to yours, and reflecting on where I go from here … in carrying out the part of your legacy that is mine now to move forward.

Dad, I thank you. You were a warrior of the heart and an amazing romantic and dreamer. I will never forget when, just ten years old, you led our family all the way to Paris, to the Louvre, to stand below one of the most celebrated sculptures in the world -- the Winged Victory –- that all powerful feminine tribute to a sea battle…where you, Dad, told Doug and me of your wish that we would see “her … the Victoire” every morning on our way to school such that we would grow up to be strong and confident men. What an impression that has made on my life … still, here and now, almost forty years later.

It was a good eulogy, John.

— Doug Davidoff

Doug's Eulogy for Jerry

My eulogy for Dad is entitled, "For the Love Which From Our Birth, Over and Around Us Lies," taken from the hymn "For the Beauty of the Earth."

Download PDF of Doug's eulogy for Jerry.

-- Doug Davidoff

Jerry's Condition Report for Friday, Nov. 6

Dad is resting fairly comfortably at Norwalk Hospital. He's not conscious much of the time. His breathing is shallow. His doctor, Andrea Peterson MD, tells us he has somewhere around 48 hours to go. He is on a morphine drip. We are rubbing him, kissing him, and telling him we love him and it's okay to go. We have been playing a Mozart channel on Pandora, as well as Mozart Piano Concertos by Daniel Barenboim and the Berlin Philharmonic and Mozart pieces by flutist James Galway. 

-- Doug Davidoff