Jerry was a gentle soul. He was kind, thoughtful, modest, and passionate about the causes that he espoused. He was also understated to a fault in his quiet intelligence and his artistic talent.
Although I first met Jerry when he and Lucia became serious in their relationship, I only got to know him better when he and Lucia joined our trip to Peru in 2011. That turned out to be the beginning of many adventures that we would come to share in the next 9 years. After Peru, it was Uzbekistan (2012), Bhutan (2013), Patagonia (Feb 2014), Mongolia (Oct 2014), Provence (2015), Prague/Vienna (2016), Morocco (2017) and finally tiger safari in India (March 2019). And what memories we shared with him and Lucia from these fabulous trips!
Some of these trips were with our larger travel group of rowdy and noisy friends from Hong Kong. A few were just the two of them with me and Victor (Provence, Prague/Vienna, Morocco). There could be no better way of getting to know a person than travelling together, when you spend the better part of each day with each other for a week or more at a time. We were so pleased that he and Lucia found each other.
Jerry was quiet and low key by nature, but he was just as fun loving and open to try new experience with the rest of us. He was always in good humor when faced with some of our crazy antics during these trips. It was also during these trips that we learned of his support of the Japanese American community in San Jose, and his advocacy for young artists and talents. Victor and I came to enjoy his companionship, his astute observations, and appreciate what a wonderful person he was! Regrettably we only learned of his own artistic talent in his last days.
Carina and I made a special trip to visit him in Los Gatos in September 2019. He was in between treatments and looked really well. He was in good form and talked about politics and arts. It was only then that we saw a few of his paintings. We even went out for dinner. That was the last time I saw him.
I shall miss him and remember him fondly.