JOSEPH JAY KUSHNER

Jay was my family's dear friend since the evening we met at San Francisco's Congregation Sherith Israel in October of 1983. At the time we just arrived from the former Soviet Union, and it just happened that Jay was the first local engineer I met. We met frequently while he lived in the Bay Area, and kept in touch after he moved to Portland. We saw him last time in September of 2013, when he came to San Francisco to be at our son's wedding.
As civil engineers we often shared ideas and discussed his and my projects. Also helped that our political views were similar, and I supported his political activities.
Blessed will be his memory.

Just found out that Jay has passed, my parents and I met him at Congregation Sherith Israel in San Francisco, right after we immigrated from the Soviet Union in 1983. Jay became my parent's first American friend and remained so after moving to Portland. He was always caring, knowledgeable, and there for you when you needed him to be. Last time I saw him was in 2013 at my wedding and it brought back so many great memories of growing up with Jay and his dog around. I am greatly saddened that I will not be able to see or hear him again but hoping he knows that he was a very positive influence in our lives and we will always remember him.

-Alex Varum and my parents Irina and Gary Varum

I met Jay through Angie's List in 2006. He came to our rescue and helped us with our house remodel. During the course of our interactions he became a friend. We actually campaigned for him even though we are democrats. Unfortunately I have just learned of his death and it leaves me deeply saddened. We were fortunate to have him in our lives.

Jay and I were life long friends, literally having been cradle mates. He was my oldest friend, and though we drifted apart because of political reasons, remainded friends. I last saw hi in April 2015 when he visited me in Larchmont New York. I always enjoyed his keen intellect, alternative view of politics, and search for great value investments in the stock market.

When I fired up Facebook yesterday, I got an immediate shock, learning, only by dint of their cryptic posting algorithms, that a Stanford classmate, fellow Jordan House residence eating associate, & my friend, Joseph Jay Kushner had died on Dec. 4th in Portland, OR.

I grieve at his passing & I'm in shock, but not particularly surprised. Re-reading our last conversation, on his birthday this past June, he expressed doubt he would ever collect a dollar in Social Security benefits. Alas, he was sadly correct.

Joe, as I still call him, long after he had switched to using Jay, his middle name instead, had decades ago survived lung cancer - though he had never smoked. During this last decade he'd been battling liver cancer, though he never drank either. Is this irony? paradox? cursed bad luck?

I always thought him enigmatic. Probably that was just his soft-spoken forthrightness & quixotic smile protecting his private nature. He became ever more politically conservative with time, quite extremely so from my liberal Canadian perspective, & somewhat curmudgeonly, nevertheless maintaining his concern for animals and the environment throughout the years, along with his sharp wit & wry sense of humour.

While at Stanford we were very close friends. When he moved to Portland in the 80's, I took the Amtrak Cascades train from Vancouver to visit him. Several years ago he drove his Toyota Prius hybrid here to visit me & Tempo~the~Tigerhound, since departed. Latterly we remained in touch through Facebook. Thus a simple friendship that spanned nearly our entire adult lives, summed up in a few sentences, ends unheralded, almost imperceptibly, with Joe's death shy of threescore years and ten.* Mortality becomes palpable when a friend dies. May your memory be a blessing Joe.

* Psalms, 90:10 "The days of our years are threescore years and ten;"

I am grief-stricken at losing so long-time a friend. You were still Joseph J. in 1971 at Stanford. So sorry you never got many happy returns on your Social Security investment. May your memory remain as a blessing.

I enjoyed Jay Kushner for many years (nearly 2 decades) in Portland, Oregon. He was a warm, funny, quirky, astute person with a quick wit. I am sorry to see he has passed and I am glad he is not in pain any longer. I am glad to have known him.