This JustGiving page has been set up in loving memory of Gerry Lewis.

The Marie Curie Hospice, Hampstead took wonderful care of Gerry in his last days. I will be eternally grateful to all the staff who supported us all throughout this difficult time.

A huge thanks to everyone for supporting this Just Giving Page ... which I'm sharing one more time as I creep closer to my birthday ... my first without Gerry by my side. 

Marvellous Max Lewis has created another musical video tribute in memory of his amazing grandfather ...

You can click here to watch!

And here's the link to the first masterpiece he created in January ...

Please click here for the video and make sure you turn on the sound ... Have a kleenex handy!

Thank you for your support.

Sheridan xxx

UPDATE:

It’s still very hard to accept that Gerry is no longer here. I do hope to get around to thanking each and everyone of you, for the amazing support and kindness that you’ve shown by donating to this fundraising campaign.

I've added the wonderful obituary that Bryan Appleyard wrote for The Times in the photo gallery .... 

And keeping hold of the wonderful eulogy that our dear friend Rabbi Roderick Young read at Gerry’s Funeral Service. Not only does it reflect on Gerry’s life, but includes a truly moving heartfelt personal message that I received from Steven (Spielberg).

Hesped/Eulogy:
Gerry Lewis, Golders Green Crematorium, 8th January 2020, Rabbi Roderick Young:


Gerry was born Gerald Lewis-Mossbaum in Battersea in 1928. His parents were Londoners, but his paternal grandparents were from Poland and his maternal grandparents were from Lithuania or Russia, depending on where you put the border. 

Gerry delighted in telling how once he asked his grandmother where she
was from and she replied “Minsk, Pinsk, who cares?” At the start of the Second World War Gerry was evacuated to Surrey and hated where he was billeted. Now, Gerry and his sister Shirley were very close to their maternal grandparents. One day Gerry’s grandparents called his parents round to their house. Grandad announced: “We have a visitor under the table” and lifting up the red velvet table cloth he revealed Gerry, who had bolted from Surrey and found his way back to London. 

Gerry’s family were in the schmutter (clothes) and hairdressing
trades. But Gerry had very different ideas. He enrolled in a Pitman’s shorthand and typing course and was soon working for Wandsworth Borough News, where he began to review films. And so started a life-long love affair with cinema. By the 1970s Gerry was working for CIC, who distributed movies for Paramount and Universal. 

So what exactly did Gerry do? He was an international movie marketing consultant. He marketed movies for the UK and Europe. But Gerry didn’t just “market” - he was one of the innovators and inventors of movie
marketing. He was the guy behind the eye-catching 2 campaign that made you sit up and take notice. It was Gerry who persuaded a reluctant industry that you had to spend on advertising and make films feel like an event. You might have heard of a couple of the movies for which he was the architect of successful marketing campaigns in the 60s and 70s: Zeffirelli’s “Romeo and Juliet”, Coppola’s “The Godfather.” The
1970s were the heyday of made for TV movies in the USA and each week they were sent to Gerry and his team in the hope they would get a UK cinema release. Always, they were dire. Until one week they were sent a movie called “Duel” by an unknown young director named Steven Spielberg. Gerry loved it. Spielberg was brought over to the UK and the British newspapers hailed him as a great new talent. That was the start of a deep work partnership and friendship between Gerry and Steven Spielberg. In 1982 Gerry went freelance and he has worked on every Spielberg movie since then. Gerry was highly influential in the success
of Jaws. Gerry recognised that it was hugely important to launch Shindler’s List in a sensitive manner and, unusually, he wouldn’t allow any 30 or 60 second spots about the film for television. After all, how do you sum up the Holocaust in a sound bite? That film had a profound effect on him and he became a trustee of Spielberg’s Shoah Foundation. Steven Spielberg couldn’t be here today, as he is in New York awaiting the birth of his fifth grandson. But he sent the following message.

Dear Sheridan

Doing publicity on a film in multiple countries and languages has never been in my comfort zone.  But there was one constant in my career that gave me confidence and support and calmed my nerves whenever I arrived at those 40 airports and a hundred interview rooms and dozens of tv stations. That constant went with a smile and a twinkle and always a blush worthy compliment when Gerry greeted me at oh so many doors. He was my gatekeeper! In Europe and Asia and all points
East of New York and West of Los Angeles I knew when I saw his face everything was going to be just fine. He was more than a marketing genius or a grand ambassador for the arts and the media and the studios - he was my dear friend! And I’m not sure what life for me will feel like on this next film without having Gerry literally sitting just off camera or off mic in my corner! I do know that his presence in your life and Paul’s and mine and Kristie’s and Kathy and Frank’s was abundant, generous, humorous, intellectually stimulating and deeply empathic! And I can’t imagine there won’t be a detectable presence of
Gerry in our lives moving forward. He will never really be very far away. And I’m depending on that!

All my love and deepest condolences,

Steven

……….
Eulogy cont'd.

Gerry was a man of strong opinions who was not afraid to voice them. He was vibrant and enthusiastic. He wasn’t one for small talk because he believed that every word should be considered. He had a self-deprecating sense of humour, which his grandson Charlie fondly describes as “very Jewish.” He was a man who was able to reflect upon and be honest about his mistakes. Gerry’s nephew Mark talks about how his successful rise from humble beginnings made him a role model - and a man who was dependable, trustworthy and honest. 4 Gerry was deeply proud of his sons Paul and Tom, who followed their father into the movie business. Tom remembers that, growing up, every birthday party was a film screening, so that his school friends thought his family owned a cinema! Gerry delighted in the success of Paul and Sandra’s sons Max and Charlie and was so happy to live to see Tom engaged to Gee. Movies dominated Gerry’s life, but it wasn’t all about the cinema. Gerry had a passion for literature. He would tell Sheridan that if there were nothing else to read in the house he would read the cornflake package. He was a man who was always interested and curious, always asking the next question, a man who wanted to keep up with modern developments right to the end of his life. But it was, of course, the movies that introduced Gerry to his beloved Sheridan. They met in 2001 in Claridges at an event celebrating the centenary of the birth of film critic Dilys Powell. In 2005 they were back in Claridges to be married. Their wedding invitation proclaimed “Here we go again!” Sheridan had a wonderful 19 years with this larger than life character, who was always so kind and generous. For the past ten years she has encouraged Gerry in the writing of his memoirs, which are fascinating. The last few years were challenging, because of Gerry’s health issues, but Sheridan says that he retained his convivial spirit, that special something that made him Gerry, right to the end. She tells me that she can’t find the adjectives to say how much she will miss him. Zichrono l’vracha, may Gerry’s memory always be for a blessing.

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I’m determined to raise as much as possible in Gerry’s memory for the amazing Marie Curie Hospice in Hampstead. The loving care that we received at this very difficult time was truly exceptional. If you an forward the message to any work colleagues or friends of Gerry’s who may not have received this then please do so. It will be much appreciated.

The weeks and months ahead are going to feel very lonely without him around so please do stay in touch! The words on the birthday card he received from Steven (S) on Gerry’s 90th Birthday said … To a living legend. Sadly, he is no longer living, but for me he will remain in my heart as a truly remarkable and special legend … never to be forgotten.