Friday, August 22, 2008

Kerry Spizel

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Born, Shaker Heights, Ohio, Jan. 3, 1947. Died Aug. 17, 2008 in Twin Falls, Idaho from chronic lymphocytic leukemia. Kerry graduated from Shaker Heights High School and Boston University. Upon graduation from college, Kerry went to work in his father's ad agency and produced the first TV Silent Movie Festival. Kerry later worked in money management for some of the top Wall Street houses in Los Angeles and San Francisco before setting out on his own as a managed account trader.

Kerry was an avid outdoorsman, enjoying alpine and Nordic skiing, hiking and snowshoeing in Sun Valley, and loved surfing in California and Hawai'i as often as he could. In 1972, he ranked in the top 25 in the US in free-style skiing, racing against such stalwarts as Wayne Wong and Suzy Chaffee. Kerry was one of the few who still skied on thin skis with his knees locked together in perfect Stein Eriksen form. He moved to Ketchum in 2000 and rarely left. He is survived by Mary Ann Davidson of Ketchum, Idaho and the Davidson family, his parents Edgar and Sheila Spizel of La Jolla, California, and ten nieces and nephews.  His sister, Pamela Spizel Ripp, preceded him in death at age 54. 

Rabbi Barnett Brickner of the Wood River Jewish Community in Ketchum will conduct a memorial service for Kerry. Rabbi Brickner's grandfather confirmed Kerry and his sister, Pamela, as well as Kerry's aunt, Hilda and father, Edgar, at Euclid Avenue Temple in Cleveland, Ohio. Memorial services will be at 11 A.M., Thursday, August 28th at St. Thomas Church on Sun Valley Road in Ketchum, Idaho, with burial at Ketchum Cemetery to follow.