Dad died last Friday. (6/12/26) He had had a fall the afternoon and complained about pain in his hip from the fall. He was otherwise fine / clear headed etc.
An Xray team was called to see about his hip. He had gone to dinner and laid down as he often did after dinner. When the Xray team arrived / he was unresponsive. I think he decided no more.
Jon was a fine member of our class - the nicest and most popular among us. Terrible tragedies did not change that. We spoke at our 25th reunion and Jon was as I remembered him, even damaged by a severe bike accident. We are all better for having known Jon.
My best friends at Abington High School were twin brothers: Jon and Steve Weiss. We first met in seventh grade and grew up together. For reasons I do not believe anyone fully understood, both boys had speech impediments with those of Steve being the more severe. A speech therapist suggested both boys discuss their problems with a trusted friend. For Steve that friend was me. We became very close throughout our teenage years and eventually shared an apartment in graduate school. I think Steve always regarded me as “his friend”, so Jon and I were not as close. But, when college time came, Steve went to Bowdoin and Jon accompanied me to Williams.
The Weiss brother’s speech impediments had little effect on their academic and personal success. Both were at the top of our class at Abington. Jon was extremely popular, easily elected our class president, and voted “most likely to succeed”. Steve was clearly acknowledged as the smartest guy in our class. We all had wonderful high school experiences. Jon and Steve had one of the early Volkswagen Beetles and we traveled in that car all over suburban Philadelphia for sporting events and parties. We would regularly attend Phillies games at Connie Mack Stadium and head downtown to record sales at Gimbels where the boys’ father was an executive. One of my fondest memories is of our being stopped by a cop on the Schuylkill Expressway because, with Jon driving, Steve had his feet out the window. The officer looked at the two boys and quickly determined that they were twins. Straight-faced he asked Jon, “so are you the one who got all the brains?” He was so pleased with his humor that he just sent us on our way.
Although we had grown a bit apart, I was always happy to see Jon’s success at Williams. He was a history major, wrote a very good thesis about the Middle East, and I believe graduated Magna when that was a rare occurrence. But his senior year was punctuated by the first major tragedy in Jon’s life. On a snowy day (in January I think), he loaned the Beetle to a friend to drive his long-term girlfriend, Barbara Blumberg, back to her college, Cornell. On the trip over Route 2, the car skidded out of control and Barbara died in the accident. I don’t think Jon ever fully recovered from this horrible event.
After college, Steve and I went to graduate school and lived together in Cambridge until he got married. Jon went to England on a prestigious scholarship. As the years went by, we only saw each other on rare occasions, so others are in a better position to write about Jon’s later life. They will also be able to speak more knowledgeably about a second major tragedy, the after-effects of a vicious robbery/assault that left Jon severely injured. For me, however, he remains in my mind the eighteen-year-old whose radiant personality would light up any gathering.
I really enjoyed your comments Walt. I think we are of an age that the old memories are perhaps more vivid than recent memories.
Jon and I pledged the old TDX so I got to know Jon within a much smaller group than our whole class. His friendliness and smile made him a leader. Jon left TDX to join the new housing unit but we remained friends.
It is sad that this wonderful young man experienced such terrible accidents - the death of his girlfriend and the assault years later. I remember speaking with Jon at our 25th reunion - he was not the same man he was as we graduated.
Jon will always be a big part of my memories of 4 years at Williams.
Robert Furey
Message from Jon's son.
Dad died last Friday. (6/12/26) He had had a fall the afternoon and complained about pain in his hip from the fall. He was otherwise fine / clear headed etc.
An Xray team was called to see about his hip. He had gone to dinner and laid down as he often did after dinner. When the Xray team arrived / he was unresponsive. I think he decided no more.
I am so grateful for his friends like you.
Will be in touch about a celebration of life.
Paul
Paul D. Weiss
Prime Policy Group
(202) 203-8142
paul.weiss@prime-policy.com
Robert Shaw
Jon was a fine member of our class - the nicest and most popular among us. Terrible tragedies did not change that. We spoke at our 25th reunion and Jon was as I remembered him, even damaged by a severe bike accident. We are all better for having known Jon.
Bob Sha
Walter Nicholson
Jon Weiss: Some Memories
My best friends at Abington High School were twin brothers: Jon and Steve Weiss. We first met in seventh grade and grew up together. For reasons I do not believe anyone fully understood, both boys had speech impediments with those of Steve being the more severe. A speech therapist suggested both boys discuss their problems with a trusted friend. For Steve that friend was me. We became very close throughout our teenage years and eventually shared an apartment in graduate school. I think Steve always regarded me as “his friend”, so Jon and I were not as close. But, when college time came, Steve went to Bowdoin and Jon accompanied me to Williams.
The Weiss brother’s speech impediments had little effect on their academic and personal success. Both were at the top of our class at Abington. Jon was extremely popular, easily elected our class president, and voted “most likely to succeed”. Steve was clearly acknowledged as the smartest guy in our class. We all had wonderful high school experiences. Jon and Steve had one of the early Volkswagen Beetles and we traveled in that car all over suburban Philadelphia for sporting events and parties. We would regularly attend Phillies games at Connie Mack Stadium and head downtown to record sales at Gimbels where the boys’ father was an executive. One of my fondest memories is of our being stopped by a cop on the Schuylkill Expressway because, with Jon driving, Steve had his feet out the window. The officer looked at the two boys and quickly determined that they were twins. Straight-faced he asked Jon, “so are you the one who got all the brains?” He was so pleased with his humor that he just sent us on our way.
Although we had grown a bit apart, I was always happy to see Jon’s success at Williams. He was a history major, wrote a very good thesis about the Middle East, and I believe graduated Magna when that was a rare occurrence. But his senior year was punctuated by the first major tragedy in Jon’s life. On a snowy day (in January I think), he loaned the Beetle to a friend to drive his long-term girlfriend, Barbara Blumberg, back to her college, Cornell. On the trip over Route 2, the car skidded out of control and Barbara died in the accident. I don’t think Jon ever fully recovered from this horrible event.
After college, Steve and I went to graduate school and lived together in Cambridge until he got married. Jon went to England on a prestigious scholarship. As the years went by, we only saw each other on rare occasions, so others are in a better position to write about Jon’s later life. They will also be able to speak more knowledgeably about a second major tragedy, the after-effects of a vicious robbery/assault that left Jon severely injured. For me, however, he remains in my mind the eighteen-year-old whose radiant personality would light up any gathering.
Walter Nicholson
David Macpherson
I really enjoyed your comments Walt. I think we are of an age that the old memories are perhaps more vivid than recent memories.
Jon and I pledged the old TDX so I got to know Jon within a much smaller group than our whole class. His friendliness and smile made him a leader. Jon left TDX to join the new housing unit but we remained friends.
It is sad that this wonderful young man experienced such terrible accidents - the death of his girlfriend and the assault years later. I remember speaking with Jon at our 25th reunion - he was not the same man he was as we graduated.
Jon will always be a big part of my memories of 4 years at Williams.
Rest in peace, Jon
Dave