On December 26, 2008, my father-in-law passed away unexpectedly. We just finished working with my mother-in-law to write some “In Memorium” ads that will run in the Los Angeles Times and Los Angeles Daily News on the anniversary of his passing. As I do a regular post memorializing my father’s passing (see grandpa_a for that story), I thought it appropriate to share what was written up about Jay. We still miss him.

Jay G. Davis, CPA

Born April 5, 1931 in Kirkland Lake, Ontario, Canada. Died December 26, 2008 in Woodland Hills, CA.

Beloved husband of Helen; brother of Jack Davis and Adrienne Levinter; father of Karen, Sheri, Harriet and Glen; grandfather of Teri, Eric, Erin, Mikayla, Dagny, Jewelia and Jeremy.

Jay graduated from the University of Arizona, Class of 1956. He moved his family to California in 1965, settling in Chatsworth in 1971. He helped found Kim and Lee, the largest Korean-American accounting firm in the US in 1972. Later, he had independent CPA practices in Century City and Woodland Hills, CA.

Jay was always active in civic activities. Among his volunteer efforts were the Chatsworth Neighborhood Council where he was a Member, then Treasurer; and the Rockpointe Homeowners Association, where he served as President. He was an active member of the Jewish War Veterans, the City of Hope, and the California Association of CPAs.

Jay was always somewhere between great and fantastic as he practiced his life-long habit of having a positive mental attitude.

We miss him.

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My father-in-law passed away this morning.

Jay was an accountant, just like my parents. He was a workaholic accountant (are there any other kinds?)… so we always expected him to go feet first in the office. Almost happened, except that he had some mild chest pains this morning. He took a shower, and after that didn’t help, took a vicodin and had my mother-in-law drive him to the hospital. He refused to call an ambulance. He passed away on the way to the hospital of a massive heart attack.

When my father died, I wrote a remembrance post. I have different memories of Jay, as we didn’t do that much together.

Of course, I remember Jay at his office, entering data into LaCerte, his accounting program. We would go through random stuff and he would find things we had forgotten. Talk about the family and the grandkids.

I remember him getting take out at El Pollo Loco for family dinners.

I remember him playing with his grandkids, who he adored. It always brought a smile to his face to play with them.

nsshere is sitting behind me as I type this. She asked me to add the time he almost set her bathroom on fire by turning on the heater, or when he had his hearing aid off during her bat mitzvah. In fact, his hearing aid was always conveniently off when he didn’t want to hear something.

I remember his voice, with a hint of a Canadian accent.

I remember his garage, which was as bad a Fibber McGee’s closet.

nsshere remembers his changing his position on Proposition 8, thanks to the sermon given by our rabbi.

He didn’t crack as many jokes as my dad, but he had a weird sense of humor.

I remember that he was usually easy to find: he was at the office.

I will likely have more later, but that’s what comes to mind. Rest easy, Jay. You can relax this tax season.

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