JESSE PHINNEY

1975 - 2017

PHINNEY, Jesse Jesse Phinney, 42, died suddenly on December 5, in Cebu, Philippines. Jesse attended Boston Latin School, Newton North High School and graduated from the University of Southern California with a degree in film studies and anthropology before entering the world of media and filmmaking. He worked on many shows over a long and active career as a documentarian, cameraman and DP, for network television as well as channels such as TLC, National Geographic and The History Channel. He was proudest of the work he did with marginalized people, beautifully telling their previously untold stories in some of the most remote and dangerous parts of the world. He loved to travel widely and wherever he went he befriended local people, turning strangers into friends, and making himself at home. He was always offering to fix things for people without regard for self-interest, be it systems or structures or plumbing. He had lately been teaching himself to build solar energy systems and wind turbines, and working on integrating them into simple green homes with the hope of making stable, inexpensive and ecologically sustainable housing within reach for the poorest of the poor, especially in Nicaragua, where he built a beautiful off-grid house, and the Philippines where he had started building another. Jesse had also volunteered recently with Sea Shepherd, an international ocean conservation movement. Jesse is survived by his wife Dominika, mother Kathleen, father George, siblings Kate, Molly and Emily, and nieces and nephews; Kat, Rafe, Carmen, Zeze, and Oliver. A memorial service will be held at the Eliot Church in Newton on Wednesday, December 27 at 11am. In lieu of flowers, memorial gifts may be made to Habitat for Humanity International: Nicaragua at https://www.habitatnicaragua.org/en/inicio/donar-ahora/. Please indicate that this is a memorial gift for Jesse Phinney in the comments line.

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