Jack Charles "Jay" Shapiro

On August 23, 2019 Jack Charles “Jay” Shapiro stepped into his eternal resurrection in Atlanta, Georgia. Jay was born in Jacksonville, Florida to Jack Joseph Shapiro and Dorothy Roberts Shapiro on December 28, 1949. In 1974 he married Suzanne Pittard Shapiro in Jacksonville, Florida. That same year the couple relocated to Atlanta, Georgia where Mr. Shapiro completed the work for and ultimately was awarded a Bachelor of Business Administration from Emory University in 1977.

For 20 years Mr. Shapiro worked in finance and corporate credit. After submitting an original full-length musical show, he was accepted into the BMI Workshop and spend 7 years in New York City pursuing his real passion – musical theatre. He music-directed shows in New York as well as out-of-state and summer production companies. Jay was an avid model railroader but died before completing his most ambitious project.

Mr. Shapiro is survived by his wife of 45 years, Suzanne Pittard Shapiro, his brother, Richard Louis Shapiro and sister-in-law Catherine Shapiro, a sister-in-law Mary Jane Pittard Egan as well as several nieces, grand-nieces and nephews, cousins and deeply-loved friends. He was preceded in death by his parents, grandparents, cousins and many friends.

Pallbearers for the service are Troy Emory Daniel, III, E. Russell Echols, Charles V. Gerkin, Jr. and Capt. John Ralph Henly McIntosh, U.S.A.F., Ret. Honorary pallbearer is Thomas C. Stanford.

The memorial for a life well-lived will be celebrated at St. Bede’s Episcopal Church in Atlanta, Georgia on Saturday, September 14, 2019 at 11:00 AM, the Very Reverend S. Chadwick Vaughn presiding. The family will be receiving visitors at the church one hour prior to the service and at the reception after the service.

A second memorial will be celebrated on Saturday, October 5, 2019 at 11:00 AM Ortega United Methodist Church in Jacksonville, Florida, the Reverend Arthur McClellan presiding. The family will be receiving visitors at the church one half-hour prior to the service and at the reception after the service.

In lieu of flowers, donations in Mr. Shapiro’s name may be made to the Marcus Trauma Center of Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta, Georgia in thanksgiving for their remarkably skilled training and service in saving Jay’s life twice.

Mr. Shapiro’s family wishes to express its deepest gratitude to Dr. Nathaniel Robert Payne, Dr. Randal Thomas and the physicians, nurses and therapists at Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota. Dearly loved and respected are the physicians, nurses and therapists at Emory University Hospital, especially Dr. Divya Gupta and Dr. Taylor R. Graves who took such thorough and gentle care of Jay during his final year of this earthly life. With the guiding support of the Emory University Clinic Heart Failure Center and the Anti-Coagulation Clinic, Jay’s life was made easier. Our gratitude also extends to Option Care and to the owner and staff of Hands of An Angel Home Care as well as his faithful friend and caregiver Susan Scott, all of whom made it possible for Jay to live his life to the fullest to the last.