Jeffrey L. Sklar

Jeff was a kind and gentle soul. He was friendly to everyone and he will be missed. We lost him way too soon. He was only 63 years old.

He worked with our father in the shoe stores for many years, always schmoozing with the customers and responsible for running the stores wherever he needed to be. After many years, Jeff became a security guard which gave him the opportunity to meet many people. He was always talking to them and loved his jobs as security guard. Jeff loved riding the buses. Jeff went everywhere by bus and knew almost every bus driver by name.

After a time, Jeff became disabled and moved to an assisted living facility. He initially had to use a cane to get around but eventually needed a wheelchair to get around. He went everywhere with his electric wheelchair. Being confined to a wheelchair never stopped him from going anywhere, on a bus, a train, or rolling (as he called it) around the city. Being confined to a wheelchair he again never lost his ability to talk and make friends with pretty much everyone he met both in his assisted living facility and outside in his travels.

About 2-3 years ago Jeff became very ill and was sent to the hospital. I thought we would lose him on that first night. But Jeff came back from this but became confined to his bed. Through all of his illnesses and extreme pain, Jeff never lost his will to live and be friendly to everyone. There were several other times where Jeff was severely ill but pulled through. We used to joke that he had nine lives.

When I would visit him at the assisted living or rehabilitation facility he would never lose his cheerfulness and good nature. He would talk about people that I never knew, telling stories about his times with them even though this was many years in the past. But that was Jeff. Friendly to everyone.

Unfortunately, all of his nine lives were used up and we lost Jeff way too soon. He will be missed by all that knew him.