Vicki Elaine Jurist

Vicki Jurist, 78, of Weehawken, New Jersey, and formerly of Cleveland, Ohio, passed away at home on Wednesday, January 8, 2025, from ovarian cancer. Her husband of almost 38 years, Eric Stovicek, and her daughters Olivia, Nadia, and Alexandra were at her side.

Vicki moved through her life with an astounding level of calm self-confidence and willpower that could knock down walls. Whether graduating from college and retiring in the same year or traveling to 49 states but refusing to visit the 50th, she made her own path, on her own timeline. Along the way, she brought amazing vitality and warmth, and meticulous precision, to every endeavor. Her life was vibrant, full of love, and all her own.

Vicki was born on September 8, 1946, to Ethel Jesensky and Joseph Ambrose Jurist, and she grew up in Seven Hills, Ohio. The second of seven children and the eldest daughter, she helped take care of her siblings from an early age. She cherished summers spent at her grandparents’ farm in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, and in adulthood, she loved quiet moments in nature and metropolitan bustle in equal measure.

Vicki started college at Ohio University as a home economics major but, not finding the education challenging enough, she calmly told her father it wasn’t worth his money and dropped out. She forged forward into the working world, with her greatest accomplishment there her tenure at IBM. At a time when IBM rarely hired anyone without a college degree, Vicki convinced the company she was worth a shot. She went on to a thirty-year career at IBM as a systems engineer and then client manager, managing the accounts of the major TV networks and JPMorgan Chase.

Secure in her independence, Vicki had turned down several marriage proposals. But when she met Eric, she found someone with whom she envisioned new and wonderful dimensions to her future—a beloved partner in life and best friend. They wed in 1987 and soon after moved to Weehawken, NJ. After years of adventures together, from trekking to Machu Picchu to traveling the Soviet Union in the Gorbachev era, they started their next great adventure: raising triplets. Following an immense effort to deliver babies as healthy as possible, Vicki was spotlighted on Oprah as one of the oldest mothers ever to give birth to triplets. Her love for her daughters was a central part of the rest of her life. She showed as much curiosity about her children’s lives as she did when traveling the world, and the wisdom and nonjudgmental support she shared with them formed the bedrock of their lives.

As if working full-time and parenting three small children weren’t enough, Vicki went back to school, graduating from New York University with a Bachelor of Science in Organizational Behavior in 2005. Not long afterward, she retired. Her family had long joked that her unparalleled energy made her the Energizer Bunny, and somehow she stayed just as busy. Yet Vicki also knew what she called “the art of doing nothing,” and she continued to make space for meditative, peaceful moments as well.

Vicki was a pillar of her local community on Jane Street, as she was of virtually every community she touched. The kindness and genuine curiosity she showed to so many people, her graceful and grounded presence, and her relentless determination meant that she made an impression wherever she went. And she cared deeply for the people and places along the path she made. As she once wrote, “I enjoy being with my family, gardening, reading, cooking, and travel—especially to the wide open spaces on earth.”

Vicki will be remembered and deeply missed by not only her husband and daughters, but also her three living siblings and their spouses (David and Claudia, Michele, and Gary and Nada Jurist); dear brothers-and-sisters-in-law (Jan Creech, Lawrence Jr. and Kathleen, Mark and Lynne, Neal and Gladys, and Bart and Nancy Stovicek); many nieces and nephews; and an incredible network of friends.

Relatives and friends are invited to celebrate Vicki’s life at a memorial on Friday, January 24, from 4:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. at Leber Funeral Home, 1245 Paterson Plank Rd, Secaucus, NJ, 07094, and a funeral mass at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday, January 25, at St. Lawrence Roman Catholic Church, 22 Hackensack Ave., Weehawken, NJ, 07086, with a luncheon to follow at the nearby Sheraton Lincoln Harbor Hotel, 500 Harbor Blvd., Weehawken, NJ, 07086. For those who wish to make a contribution in Vicki’s memory, please consider St. Lawrence Roman Catholic Church of Weehawken, Bayada Home Health Care, or Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.