For more than four decades, Jere­my was a faith­ful ser­vant of the Aus­tralian Jew­ish com­mu­ni­ty and a con­sum­mate pro­fes­sion­al. There is hard­ly any area of Jew­ish com­mu­nal life that did not ben­e­fit in some way from his exper­tise and ded­i­ca­tion, and he worked in a range of key com­mu­nal organ­i­sa­tions.

He was a for­mer Pres­i­dent and Hon­orary Life Mem­ber of the Exec­u­tive Coun­cil of Aus­tralian Jew­ry (ECAJ). He had a spe­cial pas­sion for build­ing rela­tion­ships with oth­er faith and eth­nic com­mu­ni­ties and won over many friends, both per­son­al­ly and com­mu­nal­ly.

He was the first Aus­tralian to serve on the Board of the Inter­na­tion­al Jew­ish Com­mit­tee for Inter­re­li­gious Con­sul­ta­tions (the Jew­ish worlds inter­locu­tor with the Vat­i­can, World Coun­cil of Church­es and World Mus­lim League) and was the Chair of Inter­faith Dia­logues rep­re­sent­ing the ECAJ nation­al­ly.

Jere­my was also a fear­less oppo­nent of anti­semitism and indeed all forms of racism. He was a long-stand­ing advo­cate of recog­ni­tion and rights for First Nations Aus­tralians, and made a point of wear­ing kip­pot and ties dec­o­rat­ed with indige­nous art­work.

Jeremy’s work in pro­mot­ing inter-com­mu­nal har­mo­ny was offi­cial­ly acknowl­edged in 2007 when he was award­ed the Aus­tralian Human Rights Medal, and again in 2016 when he was award­ed New South Wales’ most pres­ti­gious hon­our, The Stepan Kerkyashar­i­an AO Medal for Com­mu­ni­ty Har­mo­ny. He was also made a Mem­ber of the Order of Aus­tralia.

In the late 1990s and ear­ly 2000s, Stephen Roth­man and I had the hon­our to rep­re­sent Jere­my in a legal capac­i­ty in some long-run­ning lit­i­ga­tion which he pur­sued in the Fed­er­al Court on behalf of the Exec­u­tive Coun­cil of Aus­tralian Jew­ry against two well-known anti­semites. Both cas­es were won, and both defen­dants were effec­tive­ly put out of busi­ness, but the strain took its toll on Jere­my work-wise and emo­tion­al­ly.

Jeremy’s untime­ly pass­ing is sad news for all of us. He leaves a lega­cy that will serve as an exam­ple to the next gen­er­a­tion of Jew­ish com­mu­nal activists.

Our heart­felt con­do­lences go out to his wife Nao­mi, his chil­dren, the whole Jones fam­i­ly and all those whose lives Jere­my touched. May his mem­o­ry be a bless­ing.