Jeffrey Steven Aronoff

Actually, he might say “Turn out the lights, the party’s over,” which he often sang when his team was about to clinch a victory and move on. That feels fitting here. (If he was really talking to us from the beyond, he’d probably tell a (quasi-inappropriate) joke or two before heading back to hang with Jerry Garcia and Duke Snider.)

Jeff went by many names: “Dad,” “Grandpa,” “Papa Jeff,” while his close friends knew him as “Jew Man,” “Aeroshave,” and “Jet Fan”. Speaking of the Jets, Jeff proudly loved all things NY, from the food to the sports (except the Yankees. “F*** those guys”) to the death-defying driving skills.

In his beloved Brooklyn, Jeff grew up with three siblings (Nora, Harvey, and Andrea) and his parents Molly and Murry, who’s families emigrated from eastern Europe.

After graduating from Brooklyn’s Lafayette High School, the fates sent Jeff to a little town in South Dakota, where he attended Huron College. He said when he first moved there, he was enrolled in a speech class because his New York accent was so thick they were confused when he would hold up three fingers and say “tree.”

While at Huron College, Jeff made life-long friends when he joined the “GLAMF” fraternity. Jeff described the GLAMFs as the original Animal House. And though he shared many stories (like the time they dumped buckets of water on a school door in December so that it froze and canceled class), he never divulged what GLAMF stood for. He loved his time there so much that he even claimed [email protected] as his email.

Luckily for his kids and grandkids, Jeff met and married local girl (and all-around amazing person) Gloria Burnett. Jeff and Gloria got married on August 16, 1969 in New York. Jeff’s friends never let him live down the fact that they couldn't attend the Woodstock music festival, just a few hours away on the same weekend.

Two years later, Jeff and Gloria (“Glo” to the NY friends) had their first child, Adam. Two years after that, they welcomed their second child, Scott. Four years later they moved to Arizona and had their third and final child, Greg. Poor Gloria was outnumbered.

With his family complete, Jeff started a successful career in auto-part sales. He traveled quite a bit in the early years, which meant all-you-can-eat pasta for Gloria and the boys (Jeff had a life-long aversion to pasta and claimed he could smell it three houses down).

When he wasn’t working, you could find Jeff listening to Howard Stern (via cassette tapes his friends made before Stern was available in AZ), or watching (napping to) sports, or reminiscing with friends.

Jeff will be sorely missed and survived by his two sisters, three sons and six grandkids (Alex, Cale, Mila, Gabriella, Xander and Eve), and countless lifelong friends, who meant the world to him.

Some of those friendships were more than 65 years with people he went to elementary school with in Brooklyn, New York. His friends were from all over the country, but they managed to meet twice a year and go to spring training games, hockey games, basketball games and concerts. He was most excited when they came to visit him in Phoenix, so Gloria could make her famous brisket dinner. The yearly trips were disrupted by Covid, so they started a weekly Zoom call every Monday night so they can continue to stay close.

Jeff was preceded in death by his parents, his brother and his amazing Gloria.

Jeff wished to be cremated and added to the Stanley Cup the next time the Rangers win. In lieu of that, Jeff would accept donations to The Jerry Garcia Foundation (https://www.jerrygarciafoundation.org/), which supports artistic, humanitarian, and environmental causes through the beauty of music and art.

With that, let’s end with a line from Jeff’s favorite band, “Once in a while, you’ll get shown the light, in the strangest of places if you look at it right.” Also, “Love will see you through.”