Gerald James Hewitt

Gerald James Hewitt (Jerry) passed away peacefully on August 21, 2025 at the age of 84 after a long struggle with Parkinson's Disease. Born in Los Angeles, the son of Ellen Nelson Hewitt and Gerald James Hewitt (Sr.), Jerry was at the top of his high school class academically while Captain of the football team, graduating in 1959. He attended Notre Dame University, majoring in philosophy, graduating in 1963. He received a Woodrow Wilson International Fellowship to continue his studies in political theory at University of Chicago, studying with Leo Strauss and Hannah Arendt, and receiving his MA in 1966 and his PhD in 1973.

After graduation Jerry taught at Kent State University and Whittier College before joining the University of the Pacific in 1969. He was part of Callison College, a cluster college focused on integrating non-Western Studies with traditional liberal arts, with years abroad for students in India and later in Japan. Besides teaching a wide variety of subjects related to comparative political systems and theory, he served as Preceptor for the College and lived in Bangalore with the Callison students and Indian faculty for a time. When Callison College was discontinued in 1982, he was jointly appointed in philosophy and political science in the College of the Pacific and was a founding member of the School of International Studies in 1987. Jerry had a wide-ranging mind and loved interdisciplinary and team teaching. Among his collaborations were team-taught courses in Philosophy of Law at UOP's McGeorge School of Law, and co-teaching in the Gender Studies Program. He led the Model United Nations program for several years, and served on many faculty governance and curricular committees. Jerry received the Eberhardt Teacher-Scholar Award in 1994. He developed special expertise on the Middle East, and after travel and study in the region, taught a class on the politics of the Middle East for many years. He was considered an informed balanced public intellectual leading to civic leadership in the Stockton community such as giving the keynote at a Community Forum on the moral arguments surrounding the possibility of war with Iraq in 2002. He was also deeply interested in the arts, and after he retired in 2004 he co-authored The Political Theatre of David Edgar with his wife Janelle Reinelt (Cambridge University Press, 2011).

Jerry was a devoted father to his two girls, Lara and Mary, and his step-son Matt. He loved playing cards or word games and doing puzzles with them, taught them to travel and learn about other cultures, and provided a loving and supportive environment for them to grow and mature. Jerry had a sly humor and a great smile when trading jokes with visitors and friends. He enjoyed watching football, eating Mexican food, and films and books about World War II. After marrying Janelle in 2004 they moved to the UK in 2006 for ten years where she was Professor of Theatre and Performance and he was appointed Visiting Research Scholar at the University of Warwick. When Janelle retired in 2017 they returned to the Bay Area of Northern California, moving to Seattle Washington in 2024 to be close to Janelle's family.

Jerry is survived by his wife Janelle Gobby Reinelt; two daughters Mary Calvert (Ross) and Lara Wise (Michael) by his first wife, Mary Susan Hewitt; two step-sons Matthew and Joshua Montero with his former wife Kristine Leach; former wife Susan Wedegaertner; two brothers John (Annette) and Bill (Marilyn) Hewitt; two grandsons Nick (Marlo) and Chris (Taylor) Calvert and five great-grandchildren.

A donation in Jerry's memory can be made to St. Mary's Community Services, in Stockton CA, at www.smcares.org or to your favorite humanitarian charity.