It would be hard to say whether CMC’s Athenaeum contained more laughter or more tears during a Celebration of Life for Professor Gerald “Jerry” Eyrich P’83 on November 21.
There was a beautiful dance between the two as stories of his life poured forth, seamlessly flowing between accounts of his unforgettable impact and tales of his playful shenanigans. Whether heads were thrown back in hilarity or tipped down in loving remembrance, the packed room heard a permeating truth: always, in everything, Jerry Eyrich was all in.
“When I think about my grandfather, he was in. He was all in,” said his granddaughter, Mackenzie Acker. “He lived his life at 100%, never halfway, never uncertain, never with anything less than his whole heart.”
Remembered as a free-spirited explorer, enthusiastic storyteller, devoted mentor, and passionate intellectual with a bottomless well of love and generosity, Eyrich died on September 20, 2025, at the age of 95. An Emeritus Associate Professor of Economics and beloved Claremont Men’s Lacrosse Club Coach, the CMC community celebrated his 50 years of service to the College in 2017. In 1997, he received the Glenn R. Huntoon Award for Superior Teaching for his exceptional impact on CMC students.
Many of those students, now long-time alumni, attended the celebration to honor their beloved professor, coming together with President Hiram E. Chodosh, President Emeritus Jack L. Stark ’57 GP’11, master of ceremonies John Faranda ’79, additional members of the CMC community, and multiple generations of the Eyrich family in what was one of his favorite places.
“My dad loved the Athenaeum. The nurturing of intellectual curiosity, the exchange of ideas, the pursuit of knowledge—he thrived on it. And the fellowship and camaraderie he found here were so important to him,” said his son, Jeff Eyrich.
While a fervent champion for CMC, Jerry Eyrich was also known to buck authority from time to time—often, quite cleverly. He once petitioned the then-dean of the faculty to select a wayward student for a prestigious internship, a story told by that very underdog, Chip DeSon ’76. “Why me?” inquired DeSon. Although a mischievous Eyrich explained it was to razz the dean, DeSon knew the truth: “Jerry could look at a kid and see potential where no one else could. He could see potential when that kid didn’t see it,” he said.
In a heartfelt speech, Eric Weber ’79 couldn’t have agreed more.
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“Jerry altered the trajectory of many people’s lives. He made me what I am today, and I can’t possibly say enough good things about him,” Weber said. “He taught me there isn’t anything you can’t do if you put your mind to it and work hard and do all the things that Jerry tells you to do. And I did. Except take his ‘Theory of the Firm’ class. I was smart enough to duck that.”
Weber is among a group of alumni who gathered weekly for “Thursdays with Jerry” to enjoy a spirited discussion over Zoom about the week’s topic, perhaps micronuclear generators or the obsolescence of the surface Navy.
“Jerry was the smartest person I knew, and I’m not talking about Jerry at 60, I’m talking about Jerry at 92,” added Dave Kavrell ’77.
President Chodosh paid homage to Eyrich’s inimitable fusion of intellectual brilliance and devotion to helping people discover their own, referring to him as “one of our CMC giants.”
“It is one thing to have a great mind, and it is altogether another thing to create that great mind in others. To show our students, to show others, what they cannot see in themselves,” he continued. “It’s a kind of Wizard of Oz function. We all grew up thinking we’re not smart enough, or we don’t have a sense of direction, or we don’t have the empathy we need in life. And the great wizard is the one who shows us that we already know that we already have the capabilities we think we lack. Jerry was one of those great wizards.”
President Chodosh thanked guests for “internalizing Jerry’s amazing spirit and giving him life for many generations to come,” a sentiment shared in the entreaty of Eyrich’s daughter, Kathi Jackson SCR’87:
“I feel that a person is only really gone once we stop saying their name. So, I hope you will continue to say my dad’s name … and I hope you will continue to raise a Bloody Mary or glass of scotch in his honor now and then, because that way he lives on in all of us. To Jerry.”
To learn more about the life of Professor Jerry Eyrich, read CMC’s In Memoriam tribute.