JAY LEONARD CHERRY

March 28, 2018

Obituary

Jay Leonard Cherry died peacefully in his home in Delray Beach, FL, on March 28, 2018.

He was born May 16, 1928, in Boston, Mass., the son of Israel and Harriet Benjamin Cherry. He graduated from Phillips Academy, Andover, MA; Boston University; Lowell Technological Institute; and Suffolk Law School. He served in the U.S. Army Counter Intelligence Corps, primarily in Beppu, Japan, during the Korean War. He retired in 1993 from the Travelers Corp., Hartford, CT, where he had been an attorney, a Chartered Life Underwriter, and government affairs executive with expertise in managed health care, property casualty insurance and life insurance and investment products.

He is a member of Temple Beth El of Boca Raton and served on the Connecticut Regional Council of Governments, the Greater Hartford Transit District and United Way of Greater Hartford. He was an avid tennis player and until his late 70s, he walked as far as 8 to 10 miles daily, often listening to audio books as he went. For 14 years after retiring, he spent summers on a wooded acreage in central Massachusetts (Blandford, MA) where he learned tractor maintenance, footbridge construction, stonework, fostering daffodils, fighting Mayflies and battling poison ivy.

In 2009, he moved to Florida year-round and in 2015 to his final residence at Abbey Delray South in Delray Beach. He married Carmelita Darling Cherry in 1953 and after her death, Linda Gleaves Ambrose in 1997.

Besides Linda, he is survived by his sister Lorraine Harris of Pompano Beach, FL; his 2 children; and four grandsons, Maximillian Abitbol, Alexandre Abitbol, Benjamin Cherry and Isaac Cherry.

Funeral Service

A memorial service was held Friday, March 30, 2018, at the Temple Beth El Mausoleum Boca Raton, FL

Memorial Contributions

Memorial contributions may be made to the Southern Poverty Law Center 400 Washington Avenue Montgomery, AL  36104.