Jerry M. Lewis, a professor emeritus at Kent State University, who bore witness to the May 4, 1970 National Guard shootings on campus and was the guardian of those memories for decades after, has died at 88.
Lewis, professor emeritus of sociology, worked for decades to push, through academic research and advocacy, for an honest accounting of the the shooting, that events that led up to it and what followed. He spoke about the challenge of doing so during the dedication of the May 4 memorial in 1990 .
"We gather beyond the classroom to dedicate a memorial, but also to rededicate ourselves," he said at the time, in a Kent State University recording. "To dedicate a physical memorial that reminds us to continue the rituals that help us inquire, learn, and reflect in order to achieve a more positive condition of human life. As Shakespeare wrote, there is history in all men's lives. Twenty years ago, history stopped for four young people. Their history is our challenge."
Lewis for years discussed how he was still haunted by witnessing the shootings, wishing he had done more to protect students as a faculty marshal during the protest. Allison Krause, Jeffrey Miller, Sandra Scheuer and William Schroeder were killed when National Guard troops opened fire on protesters on the campus. Nine others were wounded.
Roseann Canfora, who witnessed the shootings as a student at Kent State and is currently a professional in residence at the university, said Lewis served as a moral compass on the matter for decades. Canfora's brother Alan was among those wounded on May 4.
"Professor Jerry Lewis wasn't just a scholar of May Fourth," Canfora said. "He was somebody that we considered one of its most steadfast guardians ... and that was important because it seems like with every year the circle of all of us who have carried our history forward grows smaller. We've lost all of the of the four slain students, now four of the wounded students. But losing Jerry feels like losing a compass. He, more than anybody, helped to turn tragedy into teaching. And that's no small thing at Kent State."
Lewis arrived at Kent State in 1966 and continued teaching through 2013 even after being named professor emeritus in 1996. He worked with students in 1971 to establish the first candlelight walk and vigil, an annual event, according to the university. He was one of the four co-authors on an application to add the May 4 site to the National Register of Historic Places, approved in 2010. And he played an integral role in having markers placed on the May 4 site in remembrance of the nine wounded students.
“You can’t look at them without wondering why the hell the guard fired,” Lewis said at the 2021 dedication of the markers. “Each of those markers links people who are real human beings to the tragedy. The slain student markers do that. Now we can stand on 13 different spots, rather than four different spots. Every one of those markers is a story in response to M1 fire.”
Lewis edited “Kent State and May 4: A Social Science Perspective,” with the late Thomas Hensley, a longtime Kent State professor of political science. The book stressed the importance of social science theory and methods in the study of May 4. He also co-authored the book "The May 4 Shootings at Kent State University: The Search for Historical Accuracy" with Hensley.
Lewis was a faculty marshal at the time of the May 4 shootings. He helped found the system of faculty marshals, professors who watched over protests and helped protect students' right to speech and assembly.
Professor Jerry Lewis wasn't just a scholar of May Fourth. He was somebody that we considered one of its most steadfast guardians ... and that was important because it seems like with every year the circle of all of us who have carried our history forward grows smaller.Roseann Canfora
"Jerry helped to build structures at Kent State to protect the students right to dissent," Canfora said, "and that legacy lives on every time faculty stand as a peaceful presence on our campus today and long before May 4 whenever students engaged in rightful dissent And so the faculty marshals program that he helped to found is one of his quiet but kind of enduring contributions. And a reminder that Kent State University and all universities have a responsibility to protect the free expression of ideas and to not only promote freedom of speech, but protect that."
In 2022, Kent State alumnus and former Kent State University Board of Trustees member Michael Solomon, made a donation to endow the Jerry M. Lewis Lecture Series and Luncheon in Lewis' honor.
"Jerry was a fierce advocate for students, a consummate classroom teacher, an accomplished researcher and a living trustee of history and the search for truth and meaning," Kent State President Todd Diacon said of Lewis. "He was the most noble person I have ever worked with in my nearly forty years in higher education. We will miss him and treasure his memory forever."
