Remembrance: Jerome B. Kernan (1932–2007)

Abstract

Born November 22, 1932, in Cincinnati, Ohio, Jerome Bernard Kernan left life abruptly on November 22, 2007, in Cincinnati. It was not the life-threatening liver ailment that Jerry had successfully kept at bay over the decades. Nor was it complications from the punctured lung and three broken ribs sustained in his enthusiasm during a friendly football game at the 1976 Association for Consumer Research (ACR) conference in Atlanta. Jerry's life—characterized by a love of scholarship, friends, family, his Catholic faith, and passion for golf—was claimed by an auto accident. Jerry was en route to join family gathered to celebrate Thanksgiving and his 75th birthday. Jerry's path to becoming a founding father of the discipline of consumer research traced a scholar's journey. He graduated in 1949 from Cincinnati's Catholic, all male, Elder High School. The Korean War yielded a tour in the U.S. Air Force from 1951 to 1953. Jerry then studied business at the University of Cincinnati. He graduated in 1957 with a BBA and received the Cincinnati chapter of the American Marketing Association's first Outstanding Marketing Student Award. Subsequently, Jerry earned an MS degree from the University of Illinois–Urbana (awarded in 1959).