Gerard Langeler

1915 - 2020

Gerard Langeler
Gerard Emerson Langeler (Jerry) was born Dec. 27, 1915, and passed away on Dec. 4, 2020, just 3 weeks shy of his 105th birthday.
He was raised in Pelham, NY where when he was 14 years old, Florence (Peggie) Bush invited him to her birthday party. Little did either know that ten years later they would marry and enjoy 66 wonderful years together – raising four children in Woodbridge, CT and traveling the world. Peggie died in 2005.
Jerry was accepted to Williams College at the age of 16, graduating cum laude four years later (1936) with a degree in English. He had recently (2019) attended his 83rd reunion there as the oldest living graduate.
During summers in college, he worked in the tulip fields in Maryland for the Dutch firm that brought his father to America. Many years later, people would stop to photograph the 4000 tulips he planted in front of their home on Racebrook Road in Woodbridge.
He joined Schaffner Advertising as an account executive. There he discovered his true career passion, leaving to start his own agency in 1951. Over many decades, Langeler Advertising became Langeler-Stevens, Langeler-Mason, Mason & Madison and survives to this day as Mason, Inc. in Bethany, CT. Jerry was most proud of the fact that when he finally sold the company and retired in 1980, he still had some of his original clients.
Growing up Jerry had become an Eagle Scout. As a young man, he became the Scoutmaster in Woodbridge for ten years, producing the town's first three Eagle Scouts. At his 100th birthday party, he was celebrated in a Boy Scout Court of Honor and received a replacement Eagle Scout pin for the original that had been lost.
Since 1942 he has been a member of the First Church of Christ, Woodbridge, where he held various leadership positions including being superintendent of the church school of 300+ children.
He was a voracious reader and thinker who was always proud of his namesake Ralph Waldo Emerson and epitomized one of Emerson's quotes: "The only gift is a portion of thyself." His goodwill and good humor had his family, friends, and business associates alike referring to him as Gomp or Gompoo, which his oldest grandson had so aptly named him. His creativity knew no limits and he was "sharp as a tack" until the very end.
Besides a career writing "clever" advertising copy (If you can't get Knudsen's ice cream in your neighborhood, moooooooove away!), he found time to write three books, one for adults (The Dolphin Swimmer), another for children (Let's Make Faces), the latter finding a particular niche for those with autism and most recently an interactive collection of 258 quotations (How To Win The 100 Year Dash) on how to live to be 100, at which he obviously succeeded.
Jerry is survived by his four children: Margaret (Penny) Rogers; Lucie Cox (Peter); Susan Bradbury (Arthur); Gerry Langeler (Kim), along with eight grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren. The entire extended family (and friends) enjoyed many fun-filled days at the family cottage that Jerry and Peggie bought in 1962 on Lake Memphremagog, Quebec. Besides card games, jigsaw puzzles, and fooling around in boats, the highlight was the old foot-driven player piano, with song rolls going back to prohibition.
He was larger than life and a man for the ages, filling his world with optimism and positivity for all those lucky enough to have shared that world with him.
Contributions in his memory can be made to "The Sanctuary Fund" at First Church of Christ, Woodbridge, CT or Williams College, Williamstown, MA.
A celebration of his life will be held at a later date when family and friends can gather.