Jeffrey Harris Gale

Jeffrey (Jeff) Harris Gale, 83, passed away on August 15, 2024, in Minnesota where he spent his final months living near his youngest daughter Leah, and her family who reside in Minneapolis.

On September 10, 1940, Jeff was born to Max and Phyllis Gale in Chicago, Illinois. He grew up on Greenwood Avenue, in the Hyde Park neighborhood. Although an only child, his extended family, including four first cousins, lived nearby and they established close bonds. Jeff, and his first cousins, all attended the Harvard School for Boys. As a teen his family spent the winter months in Palm Springs, California. There he attended Palm Springs High School. Jeff thrived while participating in sports, playing on both the high school baseball and football teams. Throughout his life, he remained an avid sports fan and a lifelong supporter of Chicago sports teams - the Cubs and Bears.

Following graduation from high school, Jeff briefly attended New York University and the University of California at Berkeley, before studying journalism at Menlo Park College in Menlo Park, California. After his college years, Jeff moved back to Hyde Park and began writing for the Jewish Bulletin of Chicago. There he met Sharon Poders, who was living around the corner. Jeff and Sharon were married on March 6,1964 at the Blackstone Hotel in Chicago, Illinois. They spent their honeymoon in Palm Springs and decided to make California their home. After more than a decade living together in the San Francisco Bay Area, Sharon and their two young daughters moved back to Chicago in 1977, while Jeff remained in Marin County, California.

Jeff was known to say, "I was born with writer's ink in my veins". Early in his career, in the late 1960s, he was a publicist for one of the first major soccer leagues established in Dallas, Texas. He was also published in the San Francisco Chronicle, the Associated Press, and the San Francisco Examiner, as well as other publications. Years later, in 1984, Jeff worked as a national press secretary on independent candidate Sonia Johnson's 1984 presidential campaign. Thereafter, he took part in a master's study at the University of California in Santa Cruz, California where his work on Johnson's presidential campaign became an inspiration for his master's thesis, later published as a book entitled "Bullshit" The Media as Power Brokers in Presidential Elections. His book was critically acclaimed and endorsed by Bill Moyers from PBS, as well as other respected journalists.

Jeff was passionate about many important issues such as human rights, women's empowerment and racial equality. Jeff was devoted to reporting on people dealing with life challenges, such as incarceration, housing insecurity and homelessness. He was also deeply committed to the right to die with dignity. Jeff was not afraid to raise discussions about these topics, which were not widely acknowledged. In the 1990's, he had a platform to discuss these topics, amongst other issues, when he had his own radio show, A View from the Left, based out of Boston and Arizona.

Jeff also greatly appreciated music, books and film. He practiced mindfulness and meditation and believed in the healing power of forgiveness. He enjoyed spending time at the Esalen Institute in Big Sur, California. Jeff thrived on routine, and there was never a day that Jeff didn't read a newspaper. His close friend David Speck once said; "Jeffrey you are always on the radio!" And anyone who met him would agree. Jeff loved talking to people and it was not unusual for him to meet a perfect stranger, and through the art of conversation they would leave as friends.

For Jeff, family and friends came first and he easily expressed his interest, appreciation and love to them. He dearly cherished his visits with his daughters, grandchildren, extended family, and friends. Jeff was the family storyteller. With a great mind for detail, and near photographic memory, he would share stories of their family history going back generations. Jeff was also an enthusiastic letter writer, corresponding often with family and friends. He would always sign off with "The only thing in life which is constant is change itself, have meaningful love in your life and in your work, Shalom and love always".

Jeff is lovingly remembered by his daughters: Shana Gale Johansen and Leah Gale; his sons in law Haakon Johansen and Daniel Fleming; his grandchildren Sophia and Marcus Johansen and Dylan and Ella Fleming; first cousins Lawrence Straus, Donnie Gale, Margot Weinstein and their families, as well as his dear friends including John Ekholm.

Dad loved poetry and he appreciated the power and grace of creatures living in the natural world. He was especially enamored by the hawk. The poem Hawk, by Pulitzer-prize winning poet, Mary Oliver (1935-2019) captures his spirit.

Hawk by Mary Oliver

This morning

the hawk

rose up

out of the meadow's browse

and swung over the lake-

it settled

on the small black dome

of a dead pine,

alert as an admiral,

its profile

distinguished with sideburns

the color of smoke,

and I said: remember

this is not something

of the red fire, this is

heaven's fistful

of death and destruction,

and the hawk hooked

one exquisite foot

onto a last twig

to look deeper

into the yellow reeds

along the edges of the water

and I said: remember

the tree, the cave,

the white lily of resurrection,

and that's when it simply lifted

its golden feet and floated

into the wind, belly-first,

and then it cruised along the lake-

all the time its eyes fastened

harder than love on some

unimportant rustling in the

yellow reeds-and then it

seemed to crouch high in the air, and then it

turned into a white blade, which fell.

in lieu of flowers please send donations to :

https://www.democracynow.org

https://eji.org