Jules Gompertz Fleder

Jules (Dody) was my best friend's father and my "second mother's" husband. He became a friend I cherished for a lifetime and I hope he won't mind if I refuse to let his passing bring an end to that.

I can still see him reading in his library on a snowy evening. It felt like the warmest, most welcoming place on earth. I believed him when he said he read every book on those many shelves--I'm certain he really did...and every volume of the World Book too.

He seemed equally at home on the deck of a sailboat in the sunshine of the British Virgin Islands--especially when the sun had passed the yard arm. I like to remember him that way.

Actually, Dody looked like he felt at home just about everywhere and he made people around him feel at home too.

I marvel at how quietly and elegantly he left his mark on the boating industry and I am grateful to have seen so many of his photographs. The world was definitely far more beautiful through his eyes.

I think he had a unique ability to appreciate and capture beauty. So it's hardly any wonder that he found Evelyn and that she and his family so devotedly by his side when he died.

Still, it's his love of good wine, great food and an even better joke that I'll never forget. I can still hear his laughter.

It saddens but doesn't surprise me that he struggled so long before he let go of life. He loved it. I just wish he never suffered.Why couldn't it have been one of those low-leaping kangaroos that he warned others about that finally did him in?

During my years with NMMA I came to love and respect Jules, curmudgeon tho he was. A man of great integrity and wisdom, his counsel was always valuable. It is hard for me to picture the vast number of lives he touched professionally and personally with his caring and relentless commitment to perfection. It is safe to say that the world -- my world -- is a better place because he shared his with me.

I had the pleasure of working with Dody though my 20 years with NMMA. I could always count on him to arrive in Norwalk at the Norwalk International Boat Show with his cannon to open the show for us. As the years went by, we would always seek each other out as there were few of us "old timers" around, and eventually wander over to the boat for a drink. I haven't been to the Norwalk show for a few years now, but he created one of the many memories of that show that made it my favorite. My best to Evvy!

Cathy Johnston