Jerry Charles Klein

Jerry Charles Klein, aged 84, passed peacefully on the morning of March 31, 2023 at the Community Hospice McGregor Center, in Jacksonville, Florida from complications with Parkinson’s Disease with his family by his side.

Jerry was born on March 15th, the “Ides of March,” 1939, at the CB Kilgore farmhouse in Butternut, Wisconsin. He was the sixth of seven children born to Sophia Kilgore and Theodore Klein. In 1947, the family moved to Chicago, Illinois, where Jerry attended and graduated from the St. Margaret grade school. Jerry was an avid baseball player and in 1951, he and his twin brother, Jack, became members of the inaugural Little League program in Chicago. At the age of 12, Jerry was the recipient at Wrigley Field of a fully autographed Chicago Cubs baseball, which, being an avid White Sox fan, clearly had zero value to him and promptly became the ball at the next sand-lot game. Jerry also developed his enduring love-hate relationship with golf while caddying in the summers at Ridge County Club for golfers, managing the Caddy Shack selling beverages to golfers, and in return being allowed to play for free on Mondays.

Jerry graduated from St. Joseph’s College in Teutopolis, Illinois with a bachelor’s degree in philosophy and theology, and from Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, Illinois with a master’s degree in mental health. He met his first wife on the SUI campus and they welcomed a daughter, Kathleen (“Katie”), in 1976, whom they worked together to raise after separating in 1986. Jerry thereafter married his wife of 28 years, Teresa, in 1995, in Savannah, Georgia. Teresa had a daughter from a previous marriage, Kristin, whom Jerry raised and loved as his very own.

Jerry devoted his life’s work to issues related to mental health and counseling, particularly in the field of justice. Jerry’s career spanned from the Southside of Chicago, to Joliet prison in Illinois, before settling in the area of juvenile justice in the State of Florida. Jerry retired from the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice in December if 2004; however, he went back to work at the Community Resource Center in Jacksonville, Florida from 2016 to 2021 and retired again at age 82. During his life Jerry loved to golf, play horseshoes, rescue cats, and frustrate his family by never throwing anything away. He remained an avid reader and “news junkie” of all mediums that supported his viewpoint until his passing.

Jerry is preceded in death by his parents, his brother, Bob, and his sister, Betty.

He is survived in life by his wife, Teresa; his daughters, Katie and Kristin; his grandchildren, Sophia and Bennett; his brothers, Ron, Tom, Jack, and Dan; and his beloved cats, especially Buddy, who was with him until the end.

A Memorial Service will be held for Jerry on Friday, April 28, 2023 at Hardage-Giddens Chapel Hills Funeral Home, 850 St. John's Bluff Road North, Jacksonville, Florida 32225 at 1:00 PM, with a visitation for friends and family an hour prior at 12:00 PM. A reception will be held in his honor following the service at the funeral home.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made in Jerry’s name to Nemours Children’s Health Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders at https://secure.qgiv.com/event/931769/page/givetonccbd.