Dion Lerman

Dion Lewis Lerman was born on June 24, 1956, in Rochester, New York, to Martha Ellen Thomas and Omar Khayyam Lerman. He died October 22, 2024, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, of colon cancer.

A celebration of Dion's life will be held at 1:30 pm, January 11, 2025, at the Chestnut Hill Friends Meeting in Philadelphia. The service will be followed by a reception.

Dion is survived by two stepsisters, Jenny Freitag (Michael) and Alanna Campbell; the extended Lerman family, many dear friends, and his beloved cat Groucho. He was predeceased by his parents, his wife Christine, his stepmother Mollie R. Falk, half-brother David Bruce Smallwood and stepfather Walter Sheppard.

For the last couple of decades, Dion was an Environmental Health Program Specialist at the Pennsylvania Integrated Pest Management program at Penn State University. The program promotes the least-toxic methods of pest control and seeks to empower individuals and communities to safely manage pests through education and training. Dion developed materials and led many trainings for the National Healthy Homes Center and Network and for the Energy Coordinating Agency (ECA), a nonprofit in Philadelphia that supports household energy conservation and repair initiatives. ECA has dedicated a lab and classroom honoring Dion's lifetime of service. Dion received a Bachelor of Science degree magna cum laude in hotel and restaurant management in 2000 and a master's degree in public health in 2017, both from Drexel University.

Earlier in his career, Dion was a chef and a food safety expert. From 2002 until 2006, for example, he was a chef instructor for the Jobs Café of the Peoples Emergency Center, providing on-the-job culinary training and food safety training to formerly homeless mothers. Dion also offered courses and training at Fairleigh Dickinson University and at Drexel University. Dion also worked as a self-employed chef and food consultant in Philadelphia and Atlanta.

Dion was raised in New York City. In a 2010 letter about his involvement with the Movement for a New Society (discussed below), Dion described himself as "white, middle class, private school educated, culturally Jewish." His father Omar was an arts administrator, serving for a time as the manager of the American Ballet Theater, the Joffrey Ballet, and working for the New York State Council on the Arts.

Dion was close to many friends in his community and a devoted cousin within his extended Lerman family, taking pride in and drawing hope from the next generation of cousins. The Lermans, about fifty of whom gather every year for Passover, are descendants of Moishe and Fagel Lerman, who immigrated to New York with their seven children during the early 1900s from Berdichev, then Russia, now in Ukraine. One of those children was Meyer Lerman, who was Dion's grandfather. As a young immigrant who was a Communist, Meyer fled New York City to avoid arrest during the Palmer Raids. He settled in Pittsburgh. For some period after the move, he went by the name Meyer Lewis. Omar and Martha gave Dion the middle name of Lewis, in case the family ever needed the name again.

In 1971, at age 15, Dion traveled to Cambridge, England with his aunt and uncle, Claire and Leonard Lerman. Dion attended the Perse School for Boys for two years. When Dion returned to the United States, he enrolled at Harrisburg Area Community College as an accelerated high school student. There he met organizers from the Movement for a New Society (MNS), a national network of activists committed to building a nonviolent revolution.

In 1974, Dion moved to Philadelphia to work with the MNS Outreach Collective, the Life Center and other organizations. In 1978, Dion and his housemates moved to Atlanta, where they organized Atlanta MNS and worked on MNS campaigns opposing nuclear weapons and nuclear power and challenging US policies in Latin America. In Atlanta, Dion was accepted as a member of the Society of Friends.

Starting in 1992, Dion provided training in peacekeeping for the Friends Conflict Resolution Programs. There he met Christine Oliger. Dion and Christine continued to work on campaigns opposing the first Gulf War, advocating for lesbian and gay rights, for animal rights, and against white supremacist demonstrations. Dion and Christine were partners in all things: seeking social justice, gathering friends for celebrations, encouraging Quakers to lighten up, caring for their cats, and birdwatching. Tragically, Christine developed ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis); Dion was her devoted spouse and caregiver until her death in 2010.

Dion's friend Amey Hutchins aptly described Dion as "irreplaceable and indescribable." He was gifted, passionate, dedicated, loyal and honest. He was an active participant at Chestnut Hill Friends Meeting and a member of Newtown (PA) Meeting, where his ashes will be buried alongside Christine's.

Donations in Dion's memory may be made to any of the following:

Keystone Hospice
8765 Stenton Avenue
Wyndmoor, PA 19038
https://www.keystonecare.com/donate/

Newtown Friends Meeting
219 Court Street
Newtown, PA 18940
https://newtownfriendsmeeting.org/donate/

Chestnut Hill Friends Meeting
20 E Mermaid Lane
Philadelphia, PA 19118
https://chestnuthillquakers.org/

Quintessence Theater Group
7137 Germantown Ave
Philadelphia, PA 19119
https://www.quintessencetheatre.org/

Medical Debt Resolution, Inc., a nonprofit that purchases and forgives medical debt.
https://unduemedicaldebt.org/