Memories of Jay G Blumler | Ever Loved

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In memory of

Jay G Blumler

Leeds

February 18, 1924 - January 30, 2021

Feb 18, 1924 - Jan 30, 2021

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Marian Simmons

When Gina and Jay first came to Quarry, Oxford, Jay asked Ray (my husband) to help him build a garden path. He was struggling as the only tool he had was a pick axe. Ray finished up making the path for him!
Gina had a first born, Matthew at the same time I had Janet and the two became lifelong friends. When they were babies Gina and I used to push the prams to Bury Knowle Baby Clinic to get weighed and immunised. After clinic we'd sit and chat in the park in the sunshine. I've lovely memories of Gina and Jay and will miss them very much.
Marian Simmons

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Bill Dutton

Comments:

Jackie Blumler

Thankyou Marian for sharing these memories - and belatedly to Ray for rescuing the garden path! Jay had a... Read more Thankyou Marian for sharing these memories - and belatedly to Ray for rescuing the garden path! Jay had a lovely time when he ... Read more Thankyou Marian for sharing these memories - and belatedly... Read more

Barbara Pfetsch

I am sending my deep heartfelt condolences to the Blumler family. I will miss Jay as an eminent scholar, a sharp and critical mentor, a friend of mankind and a companion during many years.

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Gianpietro Mazzoleni

Bill Dutton

Comments:

Roland CAYROL

Barbara, I have used your beautiful for the obituary I published in the French newspaper Le Monde (obituary... Read more Barbara, I have used your beautiful for the obituary I published in the French newspaper Le Monde (obituary included in this Memorial).... Read more Barbara, I have used your beautiful for the obituary... Read more

Roland CAYROL

(beautiful photo) (beautiful photo) (beautiful photo)

Barbara Pfetsch

2019, Berlin, Germany

Jay visiting Berlin

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Gianpietro Mazzoleni

Matthew Blumler

Comments:

Roland CAYROL

Thanks Barbara, I loved this man. Thanks Barbara, I loved this man. Thanks Barbara, I loved this man.

Roland CAYROL

And thanks for this photo - this IS Jay ! And thanks for this photo - this IS Jay ! And thanks for this photo - this IS Jay !

Roland CAYROL

I have used this picture in my Jay’s obituary in Le Monde (which is also reproduced , in French, in this ... Read more I have used this picture in my Jay’s obituary in Le Monde (which is also reproduced , in French, in this Memorial). I have used this picture in my Jay’s obituary in Le... Read more

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Bill Dutton

I ran across a note I wrote to Jay in 2015, I believe for his Festshrift which I could not attend, but Jay hopefully read:

For Jay Blumler
7 February 2015

Dear Jay,

Thank you for being a friend, colleague and mentor for decades. You may remember my first trip to England in the early 1980s, when I was invited to speak at a computer science conference at Leeds University. My talk was about the politics of modeling, and the need for modelers to recognize the political uses of models to shape decisions. I stayed with your family. You listened to my overview of the talk, and then challenged me to end my talk with a song from a Tom Stoppard play that went ‘The Rockets Go Up, Who Cares Where they Come Down. That’s not My Department, Cried Werner von Braun.’

Well, that is one of the only times that I have not taken your advice. I can’t sing.

But I want to thank you for your support and encouragement over the years at the Annenberg School, with the PICT Programme in the UK, and then at the Oxford Internet Institute. You were so good to help me develop our study of Wired Cities, including our field visits to Milton Keynes, and many, many, drafts of chapters we reviewed or co-authored. You introduced me to Thierry Vedel, who became a dear friend and colleague, and to comparative work in communication, which remained a focus of my work. You always saw ways I could improve my work. You always made me work harder, revise, and rethink my arguments. Thank you.

I am presently at a conference at the Chinese University of Hong Kong on comparative communication research – recognizing the first 50 years of their comparative communication research center. The first paper and panel provided a review of literature in this field and your work was noted as most prominent, and influential. You continued to be praised throughout the conference, including your role as President of the ICA and an editor of Comparatively Speaking. What better testament to the impact and longevity of your work?

I mentioned your Festschrift at the conference, and everyone wanted me to send their warm regards and tributes. It is wonderful indeed to be among the many who were very fortunate to have you as a friend and colleague over all these years.

Congratulations on your contributions to scholarship, the study of political communication and to comparative approaches – not to mention being such a wonderfully unique individual. I wish I could be with you to hear you sing again, hear another Blumler story, and to see colleagues celebrate your career.

Congratulations and best wishes, Jay.

Sincerely,

Bill

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andrea millwood hargrave

Bill Dutton

2020, Jay visiting Dutton's home in Oxford

Jay G. Blumler

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Gianpietro Mazzoleni

Matthew Blumler

Comments:

Jackie Blumler

Thankyou Bill, you were a great friend to Dad and he loved you dearly. Thankyou Bill, you were a great friend to Dad and he loved you dearly. Thankyou Bill, you were a great friend to Dad and he... Read more

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Mick Temple

Jay was a gentleman in every sense of the word - and a truly first rate scholar who was an inspiration to all who knew him.

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Bill Dutton

Jane Knight

Shared a heart

Jane Knight

My dear Uncle Jay. You are already missed. Your wit, tenacity and intelligence always held me in awe. The love for your family, kindness to your extended family and welcoming arms for a hug.
Give our love to Auntie Gina.
All our love ❤

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Bill Dutton

Jan Purrett

Jay was a dear family friend. His family and mine lived on the same street in Headington Quarry, Oxford, in the late 1950s. Matthew, Jackie and Luke are my lifelong friends. As a child I was invited to spend Easter holidays with the family in Leeds after they moved away. I remember outings in the car to the Yorkshire Dales, the four of us children squashed on the back seat, Jay leading us in loud and cheerful singing as Gina drove. Jay always found a song for everyone, changing names and lyrics to suit particular people. He sang a song for each of my three children on a visit to Oxford when they were little. He even found a quilting song for me. Thank you for all the many songs you shared, Jay.

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Matthew Blumler

Comments:

Jan Purrett

Photo taken in Leeds, 1993. One of many happy Easter holidays spent with Gina, Jay and family. Photo taken in Leeds, 1993. One of many happy Easter holidays spent with Gina, Jay and family. Photo taken in Leeds, 1993. One of many happy Easter... Read more

Matthew Blumler

Dad & me on Lake Ohrid in North Macedonia just 3 years ago

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Gianpietro Mazzoleni

Matthew Blumler

Thank you, to all of you; for your condolences to Jay’s family. But most of all, thank you for the friendship, and joy you all gave to my father. He was a man who loved people, the warmth of human company and the joy of interaction. All my life he spoke with such affection and pleasure about the people in all the aspects of his life.
He spoke so well but he listened even better. He cared and he was generous. He had no need for material things; he spent his money on the things he could share with others – holidays, theatres, restaurants. (He loved his food!) After our mother died he took me and each of my siblings on wonderful holidays, creating new exciting experiences so late in his life, and memories for us to carry into the future.
The photo is of us on Lake Ohrid in North Macedonia just 3 years ago.

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Jane Knight

Bill Dutton

Jackie Blumler

Jay and beloved wife Gina on the beach in Southern California. While Dad was having acorn fights and throwing snowballs with us, buying the biggest Xmas tree imaginable and teaching us zest for life, Mum an adult education teacher was the secure loving centre of our family.

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Bill Dutton

andrea millwood hargrave

John Grannis

Condolences to all family and friends of Professor Blumler, including Mark Blumler, his son from his first marriage (overlooked in this obituary). Mark, who followed his father's academic path, is currently engaged as Professor of Geography at SUNY in Binghamton NY. Jay's intellectual curiosity and good humor live on.

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Bill Dutton

Comments:

Jackie Blumler

Thankyou John for this inclusion of Mark our elder brother . Mark could not be with us in Leeds when Jay... Read more Thankyou John for this inclusion of Mark our elder brother . Mark could not be with us in Leeds when Jay was dying due to the... Read more Thankyou John for this inclusion of Mark our elder ... Read more

Jackie Blumler

2016

Jay enjoying a cocktail. Thankyou everyone for your fabulous tributes

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Matthew Blumler

Comments:

Caron Holl

Long Island iced tea?? I remember Jay encouraging me to try this on a family lunch outing, so many lovely... Read more Long Island iced tea?? I remember Jay encouraging me to try this on a family lunch outing, so many lovely memories of Jay. X Long Island iced tea?? I remember Jay encouraging ... Read more

Chris Paterson

We will miss Jay very much. Like so many of us with North American origins, I was grateful to be taken under Jay's wing, especially in the jovial Thanksgiving events he and his family shared with us. These often made Thanksgiving a far warmer and more pleasant occasion here than I ever found them in the US. Another wonderful memory is that of an afternoon at the university shared with just a few others, when Jay and his friend Elihu Katz held forth on the very beginnings of our field of scholarship; this was such a privilege for me. The School of Media and Communication at the University of Leeds has long been a stronger and happier academic community for having Jay among us, and will continue to be so for having him to remember. From Chris, Simone, and Oliver, our condolences to Jay's lovely family, Jackie, Luke and Matthew and their children.

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Bill Dutton

Katrin Voltmer

It is an incredible privilege to have known Jay for many years. He has been part of our School as long as I remember: as an inspiring scholar and an open-minded and generous mentor and colleague. He is certainly one of those legendary giants on whose shoulders we are standing. As a political communication scholar I have been profoundly influenced by Jay's work. He was one, if not the, leading figure in our field who established systematic comparative research. But I think that his commitment to democratic values in public communication is even more important and enduring. He was convinced that the media, even though they are businesses, have to be judged by their ability to serve the public good, and this is something that has certainly shaped my own thinking and research agenda.
For Jay, being a scholar and being a worthy human being were no separate spheres of life. They belonged together and inspired each other. This quality of his will remain in our memory - as a role model and an obligation. His spirit will live on!

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andrea millwood hargrave

Nancy Thumim

It really is hard to imagine the School of Media and Communication at the University of Leeds without Jay. It is also very hard to imagine everyday life in Leeds without wonderful Jay a part of it anymore. What a pleasure and an honour it has been to have counted Jay as a friend and a colleague since arriving in Leeds almost exactly ten years ago. This terribly sad news will really take some time to sink in. So much love to Jay's family right now. X

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Matthias Revers

Ric Bailey

What a privilege to have known and worked with Jay, such an extraordinary, brilliant and kind person. Throughout the 1987 general election campaign, he closely observed the BBC’s political operation and, as one of the eager young correspondents in that dingy Westminster office, I was lucky to have the first of many stimulating and challenging conversations with him. His generosity, encouragement and intellect were as forthright in the last decade, when we occasionally jousted our way through seminars - and he gently scolded me for the BBC’s failings (invariably correctly), before startling a fresh group of students with a song... I’m sad - after a year without them - that there will be no more opportunities during visits to Leeds to have a coffee and a chat with Jay. It’s often said people will be missed - but Jay really will be.

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Matthias Revers

I was very saddened by the news of Jay’s passing. As many of my colleagues, I have experienced Jay as an incredibly warm and sociable person. He made me feel welcome, was generous and encouraging, which was vital for me from the very beginning in Leeds. Jay was the main reason why my job presentation, especially the lunch afterwards – which can be quite awkward! – was a positive experience. Being a comparatist certainly worked in my favour. We talked about Frankfurt over lunch, where I was a postdoc at the time. I told him that the social sciences had just moved to Campus Westend a few years prior, which is where the IG Farben house is located and Jay mentioned: “oh yes, I was stationed there as a G.I. after the war” and my jaw dropped. Since that moment, I hope that I will age like Jay Blumler. I will miss him dearly and would like to send my condolences to his family and all who were close to him.

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Bill Dutton

john corner

My own memories of Jay span 45 years - from when I first met him in mid-70s discussions about the possible shape of undergraduate courses in Communication Studies right through to his last years, when I was lucky enough to share an office-study with him in the School. Across that span of time, I worked with him on several national committees and met him regularly at conferences. He was always a great ‘critical friend’ whatever project I was working on and regularly kept in touch, including in the last few years by regular lunches. His clarity of mind and strength of evaluative standards (academic and ethical) were exemplary and no one could be as focused, forthright and often as funny as he was in discussion. Alongside his incomparable record of major scholarship, the memory of his warmth and vigour of presence (and of voice) will remain and like many others I shall deeply miss him. My condolences to Jackie, Luke and Matthew.

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David Hesmondhalgh

Matthias Revers

Nely Konstantinova

Rest in power, Professor Jay Blumler! What a legend! A brilliant mind, an extraordinary spirit, and a full-on lovely person, of the rarest kind! His enthusiasm, dedication, kindness and generosity were truly inspirational and inspiring. I didn't have the pleasure of knowing him for very long, but I will always cherish the few conversations we had in Clothworkers' North, and his wise advice, kind words of encouragement, and positive outlook. And his singing, of course, that brought joy and smiles to all, and turned the sometimes all too serious academic events into a true experience of community. I remember sitting next to Jay at the MECCSA dinner that I got kindly invited to, feeling a bit out of place, as I usually do at these events- he entertained me the whole evening with fascinating stories from his adventures as a Russian interpreter during WW2 in Europe. My deep condolences go to his family and close friends, and to everyone who knew him. He will be deeply missed here in Leeds.

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David Hesmondhalgh

Matthias Revers

Julie Firmstone

These warm memories of Jay echo my experiences since getting to know him when I re-joined the school in 2011. Once I had passed one of his toughest tests during our first lunch (I suspect he always asked new recruits 'which newspaper do you take?', to which there was only one acceptable answer), I joined the large club of colleagues from all over the world who Jay has made feel special with his unwavering enthusiasm and support for their endeavours.

He was unbelievably generous with his time, always gave me illuminating and insightful feedback, and always accompanied his suggestions with a huge dollop of compliments. He also thrived on socialising and sharing his positivity. I will treasure the happy memories I have of stories about his adventures and the people he had met over the years – there were many! I never asked him the secret to his long life, but from what I know he took every opportunity for adventure, relished meeting new people, gave his intellect a full workout every day of the year, thrived on helping others to achieve their goals, and never let anything get in the way of participating 110% in everything he did.

Jay was one of the most inspiring people I have ever had the privilege to know and I will miss him a lot. My condolences go to everyone who knew him as well as his family.

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David Hesmondhalgh

Matthias Revers

Julie Firmstone

Bill Dutton

andrea millwood hargrave

Julio Juárez-Gámiz

Rest in power dear Jay, surely a huge loss both intellectually and personally speaking. Your legacy is equal to your kindness and distinctive positive nature . Strength and love to Jay's family and friends!

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David Hesmondhalgh

Matthias Revers

Ric Bailey

Jennifer Carlberg

What a staggering intellect and cherished example of curiosity and kindness Professor Blumler offered! Wishing strength to Jay's family and friends right now. His mirth, insight, teaching, and singing brought such tremendous joy to Leeds!

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David Hesmondhalgh

Matthias Revers

Giorgia Aiello

Jay was a truly remarkable scholar and an amazing intellectual presence in our School up until the end, but he was also a really lovely person. Over the years, I had quite a few memorable exchanges with him about all sorts of topics, including New York (I was about to go there for a month and he shared his mother's stories of what the city used to be like), politics and activism (we had dinner with Ruth Wodak after she gave the annual Blumler lecture and he told us about the Fabian society and when he met Eleanor Roosevelt), and spirituals (he wrote me a particularly enthusiastic email about his love of "Oh, What a Beautiful City", followed by the song's full lyrics, which he then sang in front of the audience of a conference I organized). He was never lacking in encouragement or praise for us as his colleagues, and I will never forget his delightful, enthusiastic comments about our achievements as individuals and as a School. My last conversation with him was especially precious, as we rode the train back from the IJPP conference in Loughborough together when I was expecting my daughter Irma. He shared lots of great insights on life, family and children, which I will always hold dear. "Celebrate holidays and be natural", he said, and I swear that's what I've been trying to do on both counts ever since. We will all miss Jay very much here at Leeds.

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David Hesmondhalgh

Matthias Revers

Bill Dutton

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Created with love by Julie Firmstone (Jay's friend).

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