Obituaries / LJWorld.com

Obituaries

Paid family tribute

Pierre Leon Michel Gerber was born in Marseille, France, and educated at boarding school in Strasbourg. He graduated from NYU in philosophy, math, economics and English Literature (honors) and received a Masters Degree from Middlebury College Graduate School in France, a Diploma in Contemporary French Literature from the Sorbonne, and an MPhil from Columbia University. His careers included sailing with the Norwegian merchant marine, gentleman farming in North Dakota, and private investing. He taught at Rutgers, Columbia University, and the University of Illinois in Chicago. He conducted graduate seminars in French stylistics, the contemporary French novel, and contemporary French literary criticism at Roosevelt University (Chicago), and he was a Senior Fulbright-Hays Scholar in the Graduate School of Interpretation and Translation at Korea University of Foreign Studies in Seoul. As an amateur boxer he participated in the Golden Gloves tournament in Albany, NY. He excelled at swimming, chess, and argumentation and had native fluency in three languages and an affinity for poetry. He traveled widely in Europe, Asia and the Americas and lived many years in New York, NY. He also resided in Santa Fe, New Orleans, Lake Geneva Wisconsin, Kamakura (Japan), Connecticut, Maryland, Iowa, Arizona, and Minnesota. He retained a quick wit to the end and died peacefully at home in Lawrence on April 25. He is survived by his wife, Elaine Gerbert of Lawrence and his daughter, Michèle Gerber Klein who lives in New York City. A memorial service will be held in the spring. Memorials may be sent to a charity for orphaned children.

This information was provided to the Journal-World as a paid tribute.