memorial  guestbook  funeral details   Jerry died suddenly and tragically on Saturday, May 8, 2010, while bringing his beloved daughter, Emily, home from college. In addition to Emily, he is also survived by his loving wife of 23 years, Lesley (nee McTaggart).

His was a life and career which, though seemingly sedate, in fact touched millions of people in this country who were perhaps never aware of his quiet efforts in the field of Unemployment Insurance. Many who have benefited from recent extensions to unemployment coverage can count him as their benefactor.

Jerry was born in Oshkosh, Wisconsin on May 31, 1953, into a family of dairy farmers near Omro. He graduated in 1975 from the University of Wisconsin at Madison, with a major in English.

He worked in Chicago for five years for the U.S. Dept. of Labor's office of Unemployment Insurance, before transferring to the Washington, DC national office. The Unemployment Insurance program became the centerpiece of his career in the Department.

In school, Jerry played saxophone in the marching band. He was an avid, lifelong fan of the Green Bay Packers. He was a connoisseur of quality beer and a lover of good food (especially German). His community interests showed in his role as Treasurer for 6 years of the Huntington Terrace Citizens Association, a local neighborhood organization active in the welfare of the community in Bethesda in which he lived.

He was a sensitive and savvy collector of books and music. He saw in his collections a coherent structure, an architecture of meaning, not merely a random acquisition of things. He eschewed popular opinion and insisted on researching and arriving at his own artistic judgments. In a house filled with books, his science fiction collection was extraordinary. Likewise, his music collection reflected eclectic tastes and careful selection.

He had a deep sense of history, especially that of the lives of ordinary people. Whenever he traveled in the U.S. or abroad, he carried with him a curiosity and interest in the meaning of places visited, and an insight into the connections between a culture and those landmarks that played a role in that country’s national drama.

Quick link to this memorial: http://www.rememberlife.co.uk/Gerald_Hildebrand

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