Born
in Pike County,
Ohio in April 24th 1928. in the local telephone exchange building.
He started early in communications, and stuck with it.
Educated in Detroit, Jerry Moore matriculated from Wayne State University.
At Wayne, he worked in broadcasting and theatre, mostly radio, where
he interned in the production of the Lone ranger, Green Hornet, and
other popular series. While
there he met and later worked with the renowned Bill Cornell, in one
of the nation's most highly regarded public relations firms.
He became a publicity assistant with many famous entertainers of the
time, including (name
dropping alert!!) Duke Ellington, Talulah Bankhead,
Bert Parkes, Claudette Colbert, Rudy Vallee, Carol Channing, Harry Blackstone,
Lillian Hellman, Al Hirschfeld, Mae West, Paul Winchell, Shirley Booth,
Count Basie, Anna Russell, Danny Kaye, Harry Belafonte, Cab Calloway,
Veronica Lake, Joe E. Brown, and an obscure actor named R. “Dutch”
Reagan (who was a fraternity brother). The entertainment field is an
affinity he pursues to this day as a member of the International
Theatre Organ Society, and 'Sons of the Desert'
(the
Clearwater branch (tent) of the Laurel & Hardy
society).
Piling on the diverse achievements, he worked as an executive, then
vice president of the Cadillac insurance company; founded and operated
a real estate school; operated his own Coffee Shop in the then lively
theatre district of downtown Detroit. He moved to Florida in 1978.
As an active member
of the Society for Humanistic Judaism,
he trained for 3 years to become a Madrick - (leader counselor),
in the movement. He has remained a stalwart advocate. He worked for
Eckerd Drug company as a manager in their records system.
Among some close friends & supporters.
He has always been involved in an enormous number of socially progressive
projects on every part of the liberal spectrum, a few of which are
shown on our first page. To this day he labors long and hard in the
vineyards of social change, still serving on the board of the Pinellas
ACLU, for which he has arranged the annual dinner for
many years, as convenor of the legal panel, and put in many hours
of service in the regional office. He continues to serve as vice president
of the Humanist Society,
and has a significant role in many other organizations. It has often
been noted that Jerry has been the vice president of everything. He
is a staunch supporter of the Atheists
of Florida, Tampa
Bay Business Guild, Equality
Florida, Humanists
of Florida, and any advocacy group devoted to securing
the rights of the LGBTQ community and any other oppressed minorities,
throughout his life. It is in no small measure that we have Jerry
to thank for the great number of such organizations in the central
Florida area. JP
In October 2014, Jerry was brought to Detroit as a guest of the Library
of the University of Michigan for an interview about some aspects
of his early life as a founder of the Detroit
Mattachine Society.
In honor of LGBT History Month, he had a wonderful conversation about
gay life and activism in 1950s Detroit. Jerry “Jai”,
was the remaining officer from the Detroit Area Council of the Mattachine
Society (1958-1960), He shared memories of his involvement in gay
activism at that time. U-M professor Gayle Rubin interviewed him.
Mattachine bravely offered a sanctuary for gay and lesbian Detroiters
who sought to organize — at a time when homosexuals were arrested
as criminals, institutionalized as psychopaths, and ostracized as
sinners. Mattachine members paved the way for sweeping social change
over the next half century.
Click below to
see a Video Interview for the Labadie Collection -
https://lib.mivideo.it.umich.edu/media/Labadie+EventA+Conversation+with+Jerry+%22Jai%22+Moore/1_kgh8dqs5
Jerry in a serious moment
See Moore Pix
here.
Jerry
Died Peacefully on May 22nd 2020 at 92.
The
obituary - https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/name/jerry-moore-obituary?pid=196242919
or see
here.
A news article -
https://pridesource.com/article/jerry-moore-activist-last-link-to-detroit-mattachine-dies-at-92/
The Lambda group: http://lambdaclearwater.blogspot.com
or email lambda-clw@gmail.com
Facebook notice of Equality Florida - https://www.facebook.com/equalityfl/posts/10163779736225346
To get a copy of the memorial slide show or a recording
of the event you can contact Judy
Adkins or Jim
Peterson.
