Jerome H. Thompson

Jerome H. "Jerry" Thompson passed away peacefully at his home in Newport Beach, CA on Monday, January 16, 2017. Jerry was born April 13, 1922 in St. Paul, MN to Sam & Marie Thompson and spent his childhood in small towns near there. He joined the U.S. Air Force at the onset of WWII and was assigned to March Air Base where he served as a B-24 bomber engineer and crew chief. He was honorably discharged with the rank of Sergeant in Nov 1945. Jerry settled in Riverside, California and worked at various jobs until he found his true calling in real estate in 1955. He soon began developing office, apartment, commercial and housing projects throughout the Riverside area and enjoyed a long and successful career in real estate until 2013 when he retired to his home in Newport Beach. Jerry was an energetic, outgoing, generous man who loved life and always enjoyed a good joke and a friendly conversation. With his quick wit and innate intelligence he loved nothing more than negotiating a complicated deal or solving an intractable problem with his usual ease and confidence. He will be lovingly remembered and profoundly missed by Bonny, his beloved wife of 51 years; his children Mark Thompson and wife Sue, Deborah Kimmel and husband Jim, and John Tolle; his brothers-in-law Danny Patterson and wife Carolyn, and Don Arlett; 10 grandchildren and their spouses; 12 great-grandchildren and numerous nieces and nephews. He was predeceased by his daughter, Julie Ann Sherwin, his grandson Michael Garrett Thompson, his siblings Loretta Bayne, Philip and Leonard Thompson, and his sister-in-law Pamela Ann Arlett. Memorial services will be held on Thursday, January 26, 2017 at 11:30 a.m. at Acheson & Graham Garden of Prayer Mortuary in Riverside. Interment will be private. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests memorial donations to March Field Air Museum.