Jerome McElroy

1937 - 2014

Jerome L. McElroy Sept. 14, 1937 - Dec. 17, 2014 SOUTH BEND - Jerome McElroy, loving husband, father, colleague, professor, poet and compassionate friend, enriched the lives of all who knew him. Jerry was a dedicated mentor to generations of students at Saint Mary's College where he taught for 32 years. When asked by his wife a few days before he died what he would like to tell his students, he smiled and said: "Tell them I love them." An internationally known scholar focusing on humanitarian aspects of island economies, Jerry's research concentrated on issues of race relations, migration, and sustainability. Jerry introduced his students to research and publication and was especially proud of co-authoring professional articles as an integral part of his senior seminar class. Jerry's friends and colleagues in economics and in literature have gathered yearly for readings of his poetry on themes of nature, the supernatural world, his childhood on his grandfather's farm, and meditations on themes of grace. Jerry published five books of poetry illustrated with the art of his wife Birdie. From "The Man Born Blind," so close to Yahweh's pristine touch no time to tarry paradise he leaped and bolted back his path skipping through the city streets his fiery eyes ablaze like lightning shocking vendors in the market parting family, friend and foe smashing theologians' equilibrium till he fell at the feet of his mystic Healer, swimming in a sea of light at home at last in new skin. He was born in St. Louis, Missouri, and educated at St. Louis University and the University of Colorado. In the 1960s he spent several years in British Honduras (Belize), where his master's thesis, The Economics of Lobster Fishing (1963-1964), changed the industry there, enriching the lives of the fishermen. It was in St. Louis in 1971 that he married Birdie Maria Rossow, his wife of 43 years. In the l970s Jerry taught at the University of the Virgin Islands, St. Thomas, USVI, moving back to the States in 1980 and settling in South Bend, teaching first at Notre Dame and then at Saint Mary's College, where he taught until shortly before his death. Left to cherish his memory are his wife, Birdie Maria; daughter, Jacqueline Sutton of Jacksonville, Florida; and son, Christopher of South Bend; his granddaughters, Alex Marie Sutton and Alayna Sutton Williams (Daryl); his great-grandson, Hendrix; and grandson, Adam Jerome Sutton. His siblings, King (Barbara) McElroy, Mary (Buti) Lee, Margi (Peter) O'Grady, and John (Janet Blanner) McElroy, cherish his memory as does the Rossow family -- Sari (Havard) Bauer, Carl Rossow and Jan (Paul) Brautigam. His many nieces and nephews remember him with love. His dear parents, King and Audrey McElroy, preceded him in death. Jerry is revered and will be missed by his colleagues, his students, and the many friends whose lives he touched in his journey among them. Family and friends may gather at the Church of Loretto, Saint Mary's College, on Monday, January 19, 2015, at 5 o'clock. A Memorial Mass will follow at 6 p.m. Memorial donations may be made to the Jerry McElroy Scholarship Fund, in care of the Saint Mary's College Donor Relations Office, 110 Le Mans Hall, Notre Dame, Indiana 46556. To send condolences to the family, please visit www.McGannHay.com.