Jerry Zeller

News Obituary Article

DECATUR: Jerry Zeller, priest, professor whose optimism inspired others

By HOLLY CRENSHAW

Dr. Jerry Zeller's heart was revealed in passport stamps, a telltale reminder of the beauty he found in other worlds and other people.

A professor, poet and priest, Dr. Zeller studied in Egypt as a Fulbright scholar and led students on field trips across Europe. The insights he gleaned from his travels abroad surfaced in classroom lectures, in spiritual conversations and in random bits of verse.

"He had always been committed to global understanding and peace, and he taught from that base orientation all those years as a professor," said his wife, Patricia Baker Zeller of Decatur.

An Episcopal priest since 1954, he juggled his religious duties with full-time academic posts at Emory University, Mercer University and Reinhardt College. His overarching optimism was a magnet to students and parishioners.

"I always thought of him as a Pied Piper who always had a trail of people after him," his wife said. "He was a visionary who had a lot of dreams. He believed in justice and the dignity of every human being."

Dr. Earnest Jerome Zeller, 82, of Decatur died of complications from cancer Friday at Hospice Atlanta. The body was cremated. A memorial service will be 11 a.m. Saturday at St. Bartholomew's Episcopal Church. A.S. Turner & Sons is in charge of arrangements.

The St. Joseph, Mo., native earned three degrees from Emory University, then capped them with a Ph.D. from Indiana University.

The subjects he taught --- history, philosophy, religion, American government, geography, political science, Western civilization and interpersonal communications --- were as far-flung as his travels.

"When he taught geography, he didn't just say where they produce corn and where they are on the map," his wife said. "He shared the importance of that culture with his students and wanted them to see the whole life of the people --- their religion, their economics, everything about it."

Combining teaching with his work as an Episcopal priest, Dr. Zeller spent more than 50 years in parishes in Florida and Atlanta.

He was serving as rector of the Episcopal Church of the Holy Family in Jasper when he retired from the priesthood in 2003.

"Jerry was a great leader who was able to empower people," said Bishop Frank Allan of Atlanta. "He'd take struggling little parishes and encourage people, bring them out and give them confidence in what they could accomplish."

"And he would never take personal credit for what he did," Bishop Allan said. "He really believed that the strength of what people did was in them, not in him."

Dr. Zeller's active mind and jam-packed schedule made his wife feel "like I was running 90 miles an hour all the time trying to keep up with him," she said.

He was a restless writer of poetry, essays and short stories, often scribbling ideas on scraps of paper.

He supported the civil rights movement of the 1960s and remained fascinated by the Middle East, from its ancient roots to its modern conflicts.

When he traveled to Iran for a family wedding at the age of 80, "it was the fulfillment of a lifelong dream," his wife said.

"I think all the things he did over the course of his life surprised him," his wife said. "He wanted a gentler, peaceful world for us all to live in, and one thing flowed into the next. It was all a spontaneous expression of his great, passionate energy and his love of people."

Survivors other than his wife include two daughters, Carol Gay Hall of Oak Ridge, Tenn., and Donna Sue Casey of Columbia; a son, Earnest Jerome "Chip" Zeller Jr. of Dacula; two stepchildren, Warren Turner Jackson III of Grapevine, Texas, and Lore Ann Jackson Lee of Decatur; a brother, James John Zeller, of Winter Haven, Fla.; and 10 grandchildren.

© 2008 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution