Archives

The Rev. Gerald W. "Jerry" Weiss, 84, a retired Elder and District Superintendent, died April 6 of heart failure at the Charlestown retirement community. A memorial service will be held Tuesday, May 27, at 2 p.m. at Severna Park UMC, 731 Benfield Road in Severna Park

Gerald William Weiss, the son of a United Methodist minister and a homemaker, was born May 27, 1929, in Ashley, Ill., and later moved to Albion, Ill., where he graduated in 1947 from Albion Community High School. He earned a bachelor's degree in philosophy in 1951 from McKendree College in Lebanon, Ill., and attended the Candler School of Theology at Emory University in Atlanta from 1951 to 1952.

He was a student pastor at several United Methodist churches in Troy, Ill., and then worked as a missionary in Nagoya, Japan, for three years before returning to the U.S. in 1955 and earning his doctoral degree in theology at Boston University.

After ordination, he served as pastor of Linden UMC from 1959-1960, and was appointed to Christ UMC in Landover Hills where he served four years. Weiss then returned to missionary service, from 1964-1968, in Uruguay, then loaned to the American Protestant Church of The Hague until 1973. At that time he returned to serve in conference churches: Francis Asbury UMC, 1973-1980, and Severna Park UMC, 1980-1988. From 1988 to 1994, he was Superintendent of the Baltimore Southwest District. In 1994 he was appointed to Chevy Chase UMC and remained until his retirement in 1999.

He participated in the 1963 March on Washington led by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

He and Stephanie Phillips were married in 1976.

A favorite activity was collecting and repairing antique key-wind clocks. "Jerry loved working with clocks, and he wanted to do it full time," said Stephanie Weiss. He studied with a master clockmaker.

Jerry Weiss was also an avid reader and amassed a large library, his wife said. "When we were living in Chevy Chase, he gave away a lot of his books to a small beginning seminary."

Dr. George R. Brenneman, a retired pediatrician and Charlestown resident, shared numerous interests with Weiss. "We had a common connection because we were both interested in nonviolent philosophy. I grew up in a Mennonite environment, and he was interested in Mennonite philosophy and theologians," Brenneman said.

He was pre-deceased by a daughter, Lisa Weiss, who died in 1974.

In addition to his wife, he is survived by a son, William McKendree Weiss of Catonsville; and four grandchildren. A brother, the Rev. Raymond James Weiss, a United Methodist minister, of Frostproof, Fla., and a sister also survive.

Condolences may be sent to his wife, Stephanie Weiss, 717 Maiden Choice Lane, ST 325, Catonsville, MD 21228.