Here's to My Friend Jay Lehr

By Rich Kozlovich

In my younger years I loved reading Reader's Digest, and one of the features they had there was called, My Most Unforgettable Character.  In the course of your life you will come across such people, and my friend Jay Lehr was one of my "most unforgettable characters".  My friend Jay Lehr has passed, and since Jay lived just outside of Columbus, Ohio I went to his "celebration of life", and it was packed.  While I always knew Jay was amazingly optimistic, and he was always encouraging to others, until the speakers told their experience with Jay, I never realized just how true that was.

 

Jay and I were so much alike in philosophy I had often said we were twins born ten years apart, but I realize now that when comparing my life with Jay's, it's like comparing a pair of Nike tennis shoes with an old worn out pair of loafers in a closet.   

I met one of Jay's academic friends there who said Jay told him he wanted to "live" as long as he was alive, and he did.  Jay was 85 when he decided to finally stop jumping out of airplanes for fun.

Jay wrote for America out Loud, did podcasts for them and appeared on Malcolm's radio show, and Malcolm felt Jay was an important part of their success, so he said so in this interview. Here is the interview (all of which is great to hear): 

Here's Tom Harris' article about him, where he notes:

At Jay’s “celebration of life” on January 16, the meeting venue in Delaware, Ohio, was packed with people. Everyone who spoke described his energy, enthusiasm, generosity, and goodness. Jay would have loved it…the happiness, friendship, celebrating, jokes, and all the stories. While I and many, many people will certainly miss Dr. Jay Lehr, he would not want us to be mournful. Jay lived an incredible life, and we are all blessed to have known a real-world Superman.

Read the whole piece, it's worth reading about the life of one of "my most unforgettable characters".  I will miss him.