Jay Hilyard Rodman was a native New Yorker from Flushing and just like most of us on Jul 3, 1956, when we entered the hallowed gray walls and began our military life…a little apprehensive, but eager to make the grade. After Beast Barracks, he joined the leaders of the Corps in A-1 and settled into the routine of cadet life. A very bright young man, he selflessly and often coached his classmates and others to help them through the rigors of the academic curriculum at West Point.
Upon graduation, he went into the Air Force and looked forward to an initial assignment at Loring AFB in Maine. Due to illness, he was forced to accept a medical retirement from the Air Force in August of 1962.
Jay went to work in Long Island with Grumman Aircraft, where he worked as an operations research analyst until 1967. His work for Grumman was on the Lunar Excursion Module, and Jay found it to be most interesting. Jay was married in 1966 and had two children. Unfortunately, the marriage ended in divorce, but Jay and his former wife Barbara eventually became good friends.
Jay worked for IBM World Trade Corporation for 26 years, from 1967 to 1993. His varied positions in finance and marketing enabled him to travel the world extensively and included a year in Paris and four years in Hong Kong. During this travel, he was fortunate to meet Renate Kreutz in, of all places, Spain. Renate and Jay were together for thirty years and were married a short time before his death.
Jay enjoyed the academic rigors of graduate studies. While working full time, Jay earned a Master of Science Degree in Industrial Management from Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute, completed the course work for a PhD in business at New York University, and finished studies for a Master of Arts in Psychology from the New York School for Social Research. Jay also attended law school at Pace University, completing his final year after his retirement at IBM. Admitted to the bar in both New York and Florida, he elected not to practice law and instead to enjoy his retirement.
In 1994, Jay and Renate moved from Westchester, NY, to Naples, FL. They would spend half the year in Naples and the other half in Oldenburg, a small town in northern Germany. Jay thoroughly enjoyed his time in both locations and spending time with his children and the four grandchildren that Jay and Renate had between the two of them.
Together with Renate, Jay immersed himself in things that he enjoyed such as travel, art, classical music, swimming, biking, reading, and finding new recipes and wines from around the world. Jay and Renate particularly enjoyed safaris in Africa, something they were fortunate enough to do twice. They also took advantage of the opportunities to enjoy nature that Naples and the surrounding areas had to offer, including long walks on the beach. Another favorite activity was attending simulcasts of opera performances from the Met in New York, which was an activity that Jay enjoyed right up until he passed away.
His classmates from old A-1 regret the passing of Jay, but we can only echo the refrain, “Well Done, Jay; Be Thou at Peace!”
—Family and A-1 classmates