Letter to the editor: Remembering Jerry Lewis

Editor’s note: The Portager publishes letters to the editor from the community. The opinions expressed are published not because they necessarily reflect those of the publication but because we feel they contribute meaningfully to the local discourse on matters of public interest.

Thank you to The Portager (and Kent State Today) for the sad news of Jerry Lewis’s passing. Many in the Kent community knew Jerry as a colleague as well as for his tireless work documenting and preserving a record of the shooting by members of the Ohio National Guard on May 4th, 1970. I also knew him as a friend.

When I first came to Kent, I joined a combined “Department of Sociology, Anthropology, Social Work, and Corrections.” The department was located in Lowry Hall, and Jerry’s office was a few doors down the corridor from mine. We often spoke about May 4th and other social issues, and we served as “faculty observers” at potentially volatile events on campus. We sometimes also played softball and handball together. After our departments split, and sociology moved to a neighboring building, I saw less of Jerry; but we continued to connect from time to time at university events. Some years ago, he developed Parkinson’s Disease and in-person participation became difficult. Still, he contributed to the extent that his health permitted. In 2022, KSU’s “Jerry M. Lewis Lecture Series and Luncheon” was initiated in his honor.

With Jerry’s passing, we have lost a pillar of the Kent State University community—a friend and colleague who dedicated his life to understanding social movements and preserving our historical record. He’ll be missed!

— Rick Feinberg, Professor Emeritus, Kent State University