Gerardo Cabanillas

GERARDO CABANILLAS  Owner of Jerry's Tailoring  
Gerardo "Jerry" Cabanillas, a Peruvian-born tailor who owned Jerry's Tailoring in Kensington, died November 17, 2011 at Holy Cross Hospital of complications from brain cancer. He was 70.Cabanillas was born in 1941 at the family farm in Cochan, near the Andean city of Cajamarca, Peru.In 1962, at age 20, Cabanillas went to work at the Hotel Alcazar in Lima, Peru, where the first groups of Peace Corps Volunteers were staying, and he became their friend.Washington attorney, Bruce D. Patner, a former Peace Corps Volunteer in that first group, who later worked at the law firm of Krooth and Altman in the District, sponsored Cabanillas to come to the United States.Cabanillas arrived at National Airport in 1965. He attended the Armstrong School, (a DC vocational school that no longer exists) for two years, and then apprenticed to a master Italian tailor.In 1967, he married Mary Ellen Pfuntner of Elmira, NY. The two met while working at the old Lansberg's Department Store in the district.Then, with Mary's sewing machine, the couple opened a tailor shop in the old Howard Johnson's hotel in Wheaton. A few years later, after settling in Aspen Hill, MD., where they raised two college-educated children, the couple opened Jerry's Tailoring across from Wheaton Plaza.Cabanillas brought two younger brothers to the U.S. One of them, Raul Cabanillas, also became a tailor and has a shop, Raul's Tailor Shop, in Gaithersburg, Md., where he has tailored uniforms for the Montgomery County Police, Sheriff and Fire Department. The other brother, Javier Cabanillas, operates his own dental laboratory in MD.Cabanillas is survived by his wife Mary; his daughter Lorrie Rowland (Craig); his son Damon, (Cindy), and three grandchildren, Cristalina, Maria and Colton.Relatives and friends may call at Collins Funeral Home, 500 University Boulevard, West, Silver Spring, MD on Sunday, November 20 from 2 to 4 p.m. and 7 to 9 p.m. Funeral Service will be held at Collins Funeral Home on Monday, November 21 at 11 a.m. In lieu of flowers a memorial contribution may be made to Doctors without Borders.