Jeffrey B. Gale

Jeffrey Gale died during a Midsummer Night’s Dream. He was raised in the Borough of Keyport, on the shores of Raritan Bay. The son of Milton and Edith Gale, he worked his summers stocking the shelves at Gale’s Keyport Hardware.

He enjoyed four years at the Rutgers Preparatory High School, where he found his voice, became Vice President of the student government, and planned the dances and hayrides. His student advisor recognized his talent as a social butterfly, which led to making friends that would last a lifetime.

He spent his college years at the University of Pittsburgh, a proud member of the Pi Lambda Phi fraternity. He served as his fraternity “Rush” chairmen for three years. English Literature and fraternity parties became his double major.

Graduation was approaching and his Mother filed applications with any law school that might have him. In 1972 he received his law degree from Suffolk Law School, joining a small firm that had offices on the top of his father’s hardware store. It was a slow beginning but his mother had been right, he loved being a lawyer.

He lost his right leg in 1993, amputated just below the knee. He struggled for six months while being fitted for a prosthesis and then pushed aside the pain to return to his law practice.

He constantly reinvented himself as a lawyer, fifteen years handling personal injury cases, ten years practicing matrimonial law and twenty five years handling commercial and residential real estate developments. His mother said that she was “proud of him” and that meant a lot.

Although he was down to one leg he never thought of himself as being handicapped. He never looked back, he could only see tomorrow and the day after.

Throughout his law career he was blessed to have partners who shared his pride in being an attorney. He was not a scholarly lawyer but he was a good listener, and sometimes that is enough. His clients became his friends and his friends became his clients.

He became an active member and eventually the President of the Peninsula Soccer Club. He discovered that coaching a boys traveling soccer team was the best therapy for his continuing recovery from the amputation surgery. The soccer pitch was his no pain zone.

He looked forward to every practice and every tournament. The Blue Eagles will never know how important they were to his mental health and general well being. In return he tried to give every player the opportunity to score one goal or make one great play that they could remember forever.

He loved Broadway shows, Chinatown Beef and Bitter Mellon, and slept through more than one Italian Opera at the Met. He was a hard core Yankee fan with a signed “Jeter” jersey and a signed “Judge” bat, both prominently displayed in the Capitan’s corner in his office. Life treated him well.

He enjoyed Shakespeare, tasting menus, and interesting conversation. He spent time rhyming poems about his family, and drafting letters to the Editor of the Asbury Park Press. One of his poems became the basis for “Macie’s Dance”, a musical collaboration with an old high school friend that honored his grand daughter.

His writings captured special events and everyday happenings. He referred to these writings as his picture-less photo album of thoughts and memories.

At home he was known to be sarcastic, unfiltered, and when he needed a bathroom, he needed a bathroom. His wife and children continued to tolerate his shortcoming. They continued to appear at the annual Gale family timeshare vacations until his children started families of their own. These vacations took place anywhere and everywhere, East Coast, West Coast, Mexico and Europe. On each trip he brought home a special something, a painting, a vase, a chess set, a mirror, the ever mounting treasure of memories.

He is survived by his children and their spouses, Morgan (Nicole), Farris (John) and Jordan (Brooke), and by his beloved grandchildren Macie, Evie, Josie, Gage, Mia and Riley. Each of his children found their own path in life and their continued successes were the source of great pride. To the grandkids he was a mixture of funny faces and inappropriate jokes.

But the foundation of everything was his wife, Rhonda, a life partner in every sense. She admired his self confidence, eventually understanding that she was the rock, the core of his existence. They often joked that she was 99 percent of everything important and that he was a 1 percent hanger-on. He never argued with this description. In another life he will try harder.

He had a great run and if given the chance to do it again, he had often said that he wouldn’t change a thing.

In lieu of flowers please hug and kiss your children and take your family to dinner at the restaurant of your choice. If he were still around he would have offered to pay.