Jay was born in Chicago, the beloved (and some might say mischievous) big brother of Leta and Bobby. Educated at many universities, he started his career as a hippy carpenter in the late ‘60s — buy a small building, fix it up, rent it, repeat. His success at this grew into a prosperous business, and continued to the present with his company, Wrightwood Developments.

Jay met his wife Carol Gerhardt in 1977, and they lived, worked, played and traveled worldwide, while enjoying a close-knit family and a large circle of friends. He loved riding his motorcycle cross country, was a great skier, fabulous cook, and ran two Chicago Marathons in under four hours. He was an all-around good guy.

In the late 80’s Jay and Carol met Kunzig Shamar Rinpoche, the 14th Shamarpa, a highly realized Tibetan Master who became their teacher. A few years later Rinpoche asked them to help him establish a Buddhist Center. They found property in Fancy Hill and began to develop the first Bodhi Path Buddhist Center, which has now grown into a worldwide network. For the next 32 years he was privileged to host Shamarpa and many other Buddhist teachers, and see the local center grow into a warm, vibrant, meaningful place with a wonderful community.

A celebration of Jay’s life will be held this November. Details to come. Friends who would like to honor his memory with a donation are invited to contribute to Natural Bridge Bodhi Path via https://bodhipath.org/centers/ naturalbridge/ where they will find a “donate to center” button.

Jay will be greatly missed. He was a good one. NG