Jerry C. Black Sr.'s Obituary
Jerry Carol Black Sr., 77, of Debary died on Thursday, February 20, 2014. He was born December 6, 1936 in High Point, NC. He served his country for 34 years in his beloved United States Marine Corps. Jerry enlisted in 1954 as a Private and earned the rank of Colonel prior to retiring from the Marines in 1987.
He had a long and distinguished military career. His awards include: two Legion of Merit, two Bronze Star with combat “V”, two Navy Commendation Medals, a Combat Action Medal with Star, the Presidential Unit Citation, a Good Conduct Medal with three stars, Navy Unit Citation with star, numerous campaign medals, and Expert Badges for both Rifle and Pistol.
Jerry saw combat in the Vietnam War, where he served 26 months in two separate tours. He was there in 1966-1967 as a Base Service Officer and then again as a Marine Engineer Advisor to the Vietnamese Marine Corps in 1971-1972.
He has the unique distinction of being the only Marine Security Guard to protect meetings between two different sitting Presidents of the United States and the head of state for the Soviet Union Nikita Khrushchev. He guarded President Eisenhower for a 1960 summit in Paris, France and President Kennedy at the 1961 Vienna Summit in Vienna, Austria.
In the years following his military service, he was the Director of Facilities and Construction at three universities Virginia Commonwealth University, University of Arizona and Duke University. He believed in higher education and demonstrated such by teaching classes for nine years in the Virginia Community College system and earning his life time teaching certificate from the State of Arizona during his five years in Tucson, Arizona. In addition, he was an academic advisor to many of the students he taught.
The Marine Corps gave him the opportunity to attend several technical schools in engineering and facilities management. Additionally, while in the Marines he graduated from the Amphibious Warfare School, Command and Staff College, the U. S. Army War College and Radford University.
During his military career and university employment he was the author of over twenty-five published articles and has presented at numerous nation-wide forums. He earned his Doctor of Business Administration in 2002.
He is survived by his loving wife Ingrid, his brother Danny Black of Conover, NC, two sons: Jerry Jr. of Woodbridge, VA and James (Kelley) of Farmville, NC, three grandchildren Kayla, Shawn and Connor. Last but not least his loving and faithful dog, Jake.
In lieu of flowers, donations are requested to be sent The Marine Corp Heritage Foundation at 3800 Fettler Park Drive, Suite 104, Dumfries, VA 22025. Other ways to give to the Foundation may be found at www.marineheritage.org. You may also donate to the VITAS Volusia Hospice via their web page at http://www.vitas.com/community/Donate.aspx
Memorial Service will be held Monday, February 24, at 2:00 PM at Central Baptist Church in Sanford, Florida.
Semper Fidelis
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