Donald Jenner (Sept 1948 - Dec 2024)

Don Jenner went to be with the Lord on December 19th, 2024.

Don and his wife Sue were very kind and hospitable to me while I was going to college on Long Island. Don would invite me to stay at their apartment in Manhattan during holidays and weekends, and we went together to their church, Trinity Wall Street. Don showed me support during a time in my life when I was far from home and not close to my parents. When walking around NYC, he would often give money or food to homeless people. Once I said to him, “That’s really nice you give like that,” to which he replied casually something along the lines of, “You never know if you’re giving to or feeding Christ himself.” This had a profound impact on me.

Don was of course referring to Matthew 25:37-40. “‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink? And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ The King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.’” I did not know this scripture at the time, but intuitively grasped the meaning from Don’s comment and behavior. 

Don is one of the reasons I am a Christian now. (I was not raised in a Christian home.) When I told him this later in life, after he retired, he was genuinely surprised. He clearly never thought much of it. Because of his impact on my life, I've mentioned Don before in a few of my posts. (Search 'Jenner' on my site.)

Some would say Don's upbringing was privileged. His descriptions of his youth sounded emotionally impoverished to me. Don's father was a leasing agent at Rockefeller Center, a NYC real estate broker, and later VP of a national department store. (In his retirement, he taught business classes at NYU.) Don was sent to boarding schools in the northeast for most of his schooling. He rarely saw his parents and was told if he needed anything, just withdraw the money for it from an account set aside for this purpose.

This may explain his personality, which could seem odd, prickly, awkward, and off-putting to people who didn't know him well. He preferred children to adults and engaged children in conversation wherever he went. Children delighted in chatting with him because he never talked down to them. He also talked to and interacted with every dog he came across. Most human adults he randomly ran into seemed to annoy or exasperate him, except for the African American men with whom he discussed fashion on the NYC subways. Don was a dapper dresser who carried a chic walking stick, which sometimes elicited comments from them. 

Once, when I visited him in his retirement, he revealed to me that he was kicked out of college due to poor grades and poor behavior. He liked riding horses better than studying. He also got into an altercation with a fellow student and went after him with his fencing sword. After he was kicked out, he retreated to an obscure theological seminary in the middle of nowhere where he contemplated becoming an Anglican clergyman (which explained his knowledge of theology, which I thought was unusual for a business professor). He eventually went back to college, Ruprecht-Karls-Universität a.k.a. Heidelberg University in Germany, and later wound up teaching at the Borough of Manhattan Community College (BMCC) of City University of New York (CUNY), just blocks from where he lived on Greenwich Street for most of his adult life. (Don was also a visiting instructor at Hofstra and NYU). Don taught classes in management, marketing, and business ethics, among other things.

Don Jenner at a party in Germany

Don was a beloved professor at BMCC CUNY, along with his wife Sue who taught Chinese subjects there. He also had a computer consulting business. He happily volunteered his computer skills to help people in disadvantaged communities.

Don and Sue (who is a native of Taiwan) met at an international conference on Chinese philosophy in Stony Brook, New York. They married in the spring of 1987. Don and Sue both loved birds. They were both New York State-licensed wildlife rehabilitators. They rescued and rehabilitated many injured, disoriented birds in New York.

After his passing, Sue had nothing but good to say about him. She said Don was a loving, considerate, supportive, and conscientious husband who took very good care of her for all those years. Sue told me whenever she thanked him for anything, he would always reply, "For what?"

Don was an honest man of strong principles and morals. A friend of his recalled a time when Don scolded her for trying to reuse a five-cent postage stamp that hadn't been properly date-stamped by the post office. He was a strong believer in the American judicial system. When encountering anyone who tried to get out of jury duty or bragged about their tactics to get out of jury duty, he would heartily chastise them.

Don was humble, yet snarky. When turning sixty, he wryly observed online, "Inside every sixty-year-old is a thirty-year-old thinking, WTF happened?"

Upon retiring, his ResearchGate profile honestly proclaimed, "I was a baaaad boy. I still am. I was a teacher, and I had to provide answers; now I'm retired, and all I have is questions."

The world was a better place with Don in it. I am grateful he lived as long as he did. By all professional medical estimates, due to his various ailments, he should have left the world many years ago. Sue and I are convinced he lived much longer because of our prayers. 

We will all miss him very much. He gave freely and generously of his time, resources, and energy. He impacted many people in many ways. Here is a sampling.

From a former student: 

For the past ten years, I have had the joy of receiving an e-birthday card from one of my favorite professors, Donald Jenner. This thoughtful tradition always brought a smile to my face. This year, on December 20th, I noticed his card was missing. Tragically, I later learned that Donald Jenner passed away on December 19th, 2024. His kindness, thoughtfulness, and profound impact on my life will always hold a special place in my heart.

In the Spring of 2013, I walked into Donald Jenner’s Marketing class at Borough of Manhattan Community College and was immediately challenged when he assigned us a 30-page comprehensive business plan. His class transformed how I approached business, teaching me to think differently about launching a venture, conducting proper due diligence, and assessing risks and strengths. Donald inspired us to think outside the box, embrace creativity, and apply critical analysis to solve problems. His teachings were deeply rooted in his personal experiences as a business owner, which brought a unique, practical perspective to the concepts we learned in class. His wisdom and mentorship left a lasting imprint on all who had the privilege of learning from him.

Donald was among the first people to believe in my abilities and talents. He always offered words of encouragement, guidance, and humor. I owe much of my career success to him. Donald was indeed one of a kind, and it breaks my heart that he is no longer with us physically. He was a fantastic man with a big heart.

From the former Rector of St. Ann's in the Bronx:

Don Jenner was a unique and wonderful person. I met him at the home of the Vicar of his parish, Trinity Church Wall Street, where he had a reputation for correcting the theology of the clergy, and, of course, he was usually right.

When Don visited my South Bronx parish, in the poorest part of the poorest Congressional District in the country, he offered to help to fulfill a dream. We had an after-school program for 100 children, and Don agreed to help us to create a computer lab for them.

Don got right to work: ordering the right computers at the right price, selecting and installing the best programs, choosing chairs and other furniture that would make the South Bronx children feel like executives. He organized the children to choose for themselves what color the lab would be painted. Don even selected carpeting tiles that could be easily replaced, and he took me to Ikea in New Jersey to get the best and least expensive furniture. 

Don did all this motivated by his teacher’s heart, to help the children to have better lives. Those who knew Don in his professorial role would have been surprised to see him crawling around on his hands and knees to be sure the wiring was correct when the children arrived.

Don had faith in the children of the South Bronx. At one point, he said to me, “If you have any questions, ask a second grader.” 

Creating the computer lab was, in itself, a blessing that Don gave to the children, but that wasn’t Don’s only blessing. When some of the children needed home computers for more advanced work, he accompanied me to shop for them.

When I told my son about Don’s passing, he told me how very much he and the other children of St. Ann’s appreciated Don. He told me how much it meant that he and Sue had broadened their horizons by introducing them to Chinese culture, including them in celebrating Chinese New Year, memorialized by golden coins wrapped in bright red paper.

God bless you, Don. We will miss you, but your blessings will live on for years to come.

(Posted 1/10/25)