Tuesday September 8, 2020 – Gerald “Jerry” Harris (Yochanan Ben Aharon ve Sarah) was born in Toronto September 26th, 1935. Raised by a single mother, Sarah, the two of them would spend hours at the movies instilling his love for old films (anything made after 1959 was considered “lousy”). Jerry graduated from Osgoode Hall Law School in 1963 with first class honours. Like Groucho Marx he didn’t want to belong to any club that would accept him as a member so he went into practice for himself. He met his wife Diane a nursing student in the U of T library. They got married, had 3 children Stephen (Yeufen), Jeanette (Richard z”l) and Naomi and spent 62 years together.

Jerry loved long walks, trips to New York, Las Vegas and Florida, sitting in the sun, big band music (“they don’t make music with a melody anymore”), road trips, YouTube videos and fish and chips. He loved Israel and participated in the Sar-El volunteer program numerous times throughout the years, going twice in 2002 when no one else was going to Israel. He volunteered for Circle of Care Meals-on-Wheels for over 25 years until he broke his hip in 2018. Like a cat he had more than 9 lives as he overcame a variety of health issues including multiple cancers in the past few years.

A man who still worked, went to shul every morning, took Yiddish classes and loved to meet his friends and The Esquire Boys for breakfasts, lunches and dinners, like many seniors he didn’t fare well when his routine was disrupted by Covid-19. He would have turned 85 on September 26. The family would like to thank all those who treated and assisted Jerry, especially the staff at the Odette Cancer Centre and the Wellspring Westerkirk House.

Memorial donations may be made to JNF – Plant a Tree (Donate Here) or to The Temmy Latner Centre for Palliative Care (Donate Here)

Please visit https://smclive.ca/september-2020-1 to access an archived version of the service for the next 60 days. The required password is Harris.