By Karen Blackledge
DANVILLE — Jerome “Jerry” Finn was a great Irishman, a good friend, a father figure and much more to the many people whose lives he touched during his lifetime.
“He always had a smile on his face and a greeting,” said good friend Dr. Joseph Mowad about Finn, who died Monday night at 78.
A longtime downtown business owner, he and his wife, Joan, founded Finn’s News Agency at 216 Mill St. 43 years ago.
The business is a place where people congregate, especially in the morning, for coffee and newspapers.
“Mr. Finn was one of the downtown business people who treated me like family when I moved into town in the early 1990s,” said Tom Dipasquale, owner of D’s Clothier, also on Mill Street.
“He was a father figure to me personally and always available to help or lend a hand in any efforts for myself personally or my family or in participation of any of the events in the downtown,” he said.
Finn served as his sponsor when he joined the Danville Elks.
“He brought a lot of joy to people’s lives. He always told me he never in his 50-plus years he was married to his wife had an argument with her, and I always admired that,” Dipasquale said.
Mowad said Finn was “an excellent friend of mine. He loved his family. His family was his whole life. He was a great Irishman, and he loved to party. I told Joan before he died I hoped he would last until St. Patrick’s Day. He’s having a great party with the Lord.”
“He was a good Christian and the ultimate paper boy. The paper was always at our door early in the morning,” Mowad said.
At an age when others would have retired, Finn often could be seen driving a van around town delivering newspapers.
Saying no words can really describe Finn, Mowad added, “He was a great human being.”
Mick Brady, who knew Finn for many years, said, “Jerry was a good man.”
“I’ve had many an enjoyable St. Patrick’s Day with Jerry. That was one of the last things I said to him at the hospital the other night. I thought he was going make it to St. Patrick’s Day. He fought the good fight. He suffered a long time,” he said.
“Jerry was a good friend to me. He had all the characteristics I sought out in friends, and I’ll miss him,” he said of Finn, who was a member of the Elks, where Brady is general manager.
“He was always there if you needed him,” he said.
Finn also was a supporter of the community and interested in politics, having known the late Gov. Robert Casey.
Originally from the Wilkes-Barre area, he enjoyed singing and music.
The Riverside resident often referred to Joan as “my bride.” The Finns had pictures of them appearing together on stage years ago.
Besides his wife, he is survived by daughters Joan and Colleen and sons Jerry and Trevor, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
