Jerome Pecoraro was born on October 10, 1924 in an apartment on 1st Ave and 10th street in Manhattan, New York to Vincent Pecoraro and Louisa (Verra) Pecoraro and was the youngest of 6 children. Jerry grew up in the Bronx and Newburgh, New York (where in the late 1930s he met Franklin Delano Roosevelt). In 1933, at 8 years old, he won first prize in the 21st Annual John Wanamaker Children’s Drawing Competition, for the best drawing by any child under 15 years of age. During World War II, he was a member of the US Army 8th Air Force, 486th bomb group stationed in Sudbury, England. He served as a radio operator and side gunner on “The Old Yard Dog” (a B-17) until the end of the war, achieving the rank of technical sergeant. At his death, he was the last surviving member of his 9-member crew. After returning home, he met his future wife, Gloria Fragnito, while they were working in the same lamp factory. She always recounted that the first time she saw Jerry, she told her co-workers that he was the man she was going to marry. They met when she offered to sew a button back onto his coat (which he had purposely pulled off to get her attention). They were married on April 24, 1948 and soon moved to Hicksville, New York on Long Island. It was there that they had their only child, Vincent Louis Pecoraro, in 1956. Because Vince was often sick, Jerry sold his advertising art studio (Berin-Pecor) in 1961, and the family moved to Southern California. They eventually bought a home in Canoga Park, CA and lived there for over 25 years. Jerry worked for American Art Enterprises and as an independent freelance artist. He excelled across a variety of genres (including over a hundred original illustrations) while making book, magazine and video box covers. When Jerry retired from the commercial art business in 1989, he and Gloria relocated to Raleigh, North Carolina where they lived for another 25 years. During this time, Jerry accelerated his production of fine art pieces, composing over 40 original oil or acrylic works on canvas, wood or canvas board. In 2002, he displayed his artwork in “Pecoraro: A Retrospective” at Pierre-Paul Gallery in Ann Arbor. In 2014, Gloria and Jerry moved to Ann Arbor to live with Vince and his wife, Peggy Carver. Over all these years, Jerry was a loving and devoted husband and father and cared meticulously for his wife during her long battle with Alzheimer’s Disease until her death on August 27, 2019. Jerry had a wonderful sense of humor and an infectious smile, the brightness of which inspired his World War II nickname “teeth”. Jerry was preceded in death by his mother and father as well as his siblings Carmelo, Antoinette, Carmelo, Palmyra and Martino. He is mourned by his son and daughter-in-law, as well as by his nieces and nephews, for whom he served as a wonderful role model. Jerry passed away peacefully at his home in Ann Arbor on March 26, 2020, nearly 7 months after the death of his beloved wife. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, he will be buried in a private graveside service at Forest Hill Cemetery on Tuesday, March 31. His family will announce a celebration of life ceremony later in the year when people are able to gather more freely. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the St. Joseph Mercy Hospice Fund.
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