Hunter Oberst
News Editor
Former Keene State College Chemistry Professor Dr. Emeritus Jerry P. Jasinski passed away last week.
Jasinski worked in the chemistry department for 41 years up until his retirement in 2019. During part of that time, Jasinski served as Chair for the Chemistry Department and has taught over 20 different courses. He was the first individual at KSC to receive a National Science Foundation Grant in 1989 for his X-ray diffractometer. He received another in 2010. He served on the Board of Directors, Chairmen of the board, and President for the American Institute of Chemists and has served on numerous committees of the Northeastern Section of the American Chemical Society.
Jasinski participated as a Fulbright Teaching and Research Fellow at the University of Mysore in India from 2013 to 2014, conducting workshops and lecturing on the use of single crystal X-ray crystallography as a state-of-the-art tool for determining molecular structure. During his time at the University of Mysore he met Dr. Manpreet Kaur. At the time, Kaur was getting her PhD in chemistry. Kaur said Jasinski, who she called “Dr. J” became a mentor to her and they even published 20 papers together in India. After Jasinski returned to the U.S. they still kept in touch. Kaur said he would guide her and even gave her advice on her thesis for her PhD.
Once Kaur finished her PhD, Jasinski made her an offer to do a post-doctoral fellowship at Keene State and Kaur came to Keene in the summer of 2016. Kaur said Jasinksi changed her life big time.
“I never imagined getting outside of India,” Kaur said. “He really gave me this big time opportunity and brought me to the U.S. He could have given the opportunity to anyone but he chose me and funded my post-doc. My life changed for the better. I’m a much better person than I was five years ago.”
With achievements extending beyond Chemistry, Jaskinski was also an assistant coach of the Keene State men’s and women’s indoor and outdoor track and field teams for 18 years. Additionally, he officiated football, basketball and track and field at the secondary school level, and Men’s and Women’s collegiate basketball for 10 years.
Keene State’s current Chair of the Chemistry Department Dr. Brian J. Anderson said Jasinski’s death came as a surprise to him. Anderson said Jasinski was in the department a week prior. Anderson said he has many fond memories of his time with Jasinski.
“He was such a strong personality,” Anderson said. “My office was right next to him so I’d always hear him laugh. It’s hard to put his personality into words, he’s such a bigger than life character. He’s somebody who was 100% dedicated to Keene State. He was one of my mentors when I came to Keene.”
“He was very happy-go-lucky,” Kaur said. “He was serious about his work, but he was not one of those serious people. You could be casual around him.”
Dr. Kaur she will forever remember how Dr. Jasinski helped her when she was struggling personally and professionally.
“He would make the effort to call me and tell me to keep pushing and not to give up. He gave me the courage and confidence to keep going. I will forever miss him.”
Anderson added that Jasinski loved to be “roasted” by his students, and mentioned that Jasinski’s office would be covered in artifacts from students joking towards him.
Anderson and Jasinski would frequently talk while standing outside their adjacent offices.
“I remember the hallway conversations we would have,” Jasinski said. “Everyone would be tired but we’d be outside talking and laughing. We’d start talking about chemistry but it could move to sports or our kids. It always ended with his loud laugh. That’s what I’ll miss the most.”
Hunter Oberst can be contacted at:
news@kscequinx.com
