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January 15, 2025

Colorado Symphony Announces Celebration of Life for Jerome H. Kern

Kern’s service spanned more than 20 years, including 11 stewarding the organization’s leadership efforts

Jan. 13, 2025 – Denver, CO – The Colorado Symphony has announced a Celebration of Life for former CEO and Board Chair Jerome H. Kern. The event will take place on Saturday, February 15 at 11am MST in Boettcher Concert Hall and will be open to the public. Pianist Natasha Paremski, cellist Zuill Bailey, and members of the Colorado Symphony will perform during the event. 

Kern passed away on Friday, December 13, 2024, at the age of 87. He is survived by his wife, Mary Rossick-Kern, his children, Jonathan Kern, Peter Kern, his step-children, Peter Lockley and Katie Lockely Weller, 9 grandchildren, Sara Kern, Adam Kern, Ben Kern, Max Kern, Milo Kern, Graham Lockley, Isla Lockely, Aurelia Weller, and Daniel Jerome Weller, and his sister, Leila Kern.

His service with the Colorado Symphony Association spanned more than twenty years, encompassing two separate terms, including his last eleven seasons stewarding the organization’s leadership efforts. Kern retired as Chief Executive Officer and Chair of the Board on September 2, 2021. Following his retirement, he was named Emeritus Chair of the Board of Trustees. During his term as CEO of the Colorado Symphony Association, among his distinguishing highlights, Kern raised over $80 million for the organization, successfully created The Symphony Fund that now oversees the endowment for the Colorado Symphony, and oversaw stewardship to the successful negotiation of a three-year lease agreement with Denver Arts & Venues that allowed for continued growth of the organization through 2021. 

Mr. Kern’s initial involvement began in the late 1990s as a community trustee with his wife Mary.  Their involvement continued through the mid 2000s resulting in many successful endeavors including the creation of Symphony on the Rocks summer season series at Red Rocks Amphitheatre and the establishment of the Colorado Symphony Ball — the organization’s most important fundraiser which had raised over $1 million annually. In 2010, the CSA musicians reached out to the Kerns to re-engage with the organization after facing financial woes and the forced cancellation of a portion of the 2011/12 Season.  Mr. Kern and Dr. Rossick Kern became Co-Chairs of the Board of Trustees through 2016, after which he assumed the crucial dual roles of CEO and Chair of the Board through 2021.

Kern used his professional skills and acumen to further the work of a number of philanthropic organizations. As co-chairman of the Colorado Symphony Association, he helped save that institution from bankruptcy, collecting a salary of $1 per year during his first 5 years as CEO. As a trustee of New York University, he helped raise the funds needed to endow the Root-Tilden-Kern Scholarship at New York University School of Law. He was a founder and chairman of the Institute for Children’s Mental Disorders. He funded the Mary Rossick Kern and Jerome H. Kern Chair in Endocrine Neoplasms Research at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, Division of Endocrinology, Metabolism & Diabetes. He was also a donor to The Weitzman Institute, Rehovoth, Israel, for the Michael Kern building. 

In addition, he served on the board of trustees for New York University Law School Foundation, Institute for Children’s Mental Disorders, University of Colorado Health Science Center, City Meals-On-Wheels, New York City, and Volunteers of America Colorado. 

“Jerry was an indispensable part of this organization, helping it as it reached new heights under his leadership,” says Anthony Pierce, Chief Artistic Officer for the Colorado Symphony. “His loss has created a great void in our community leadership and he will be greatly missed,” Pierce adds.

Kern had been the President of Kern Consulting, LLC since 1997. He joined Moelis & Company in September 2020 as a Senior Advisor. He also joined Nomura Securities International in August 2010 as a senior advisor to the America’s Investment Banking Division with a specific mandate to develop technology, media and telecommunications opportunities. Prior to that, he served as interim chairman and CEO of Playboy Enterprises, Inc.; was the managing partner in Enki Strategic Advisors, consultants to the broadband and mobile industry from 2007-2009; and the chairman and CEO of On Command Corporation. 

An acknowledged media veteran and mega-deal maker in complicated, multi-party transactions, Kern served as vice chairman and a member of the board of directors of Tele-Communications, Inc. (TCI). He was the architect of the AT&T/TCI merger, and TCI’s representative in a number of other high-profile mergers and acquisitions, including the Time Warner/Turner Broadcasting merger. Prior to TCI, Kern was a senior partner at Baker & Botts, LLP, where he was the senior corporate lawyer in the New York office. For more than twenty years, he was the principal outside legal counsel to TCI and Liberty Media.

Kern graduated from the New York University School of Law (L.L.B., 1960, cum laude) where he was a Root Tilden Scholar and managing editor of the New York University Law Review (1959-60), and was named to the Order of the Coif. He also holds a bachelor’s degree from Columbia University (A.B. 1957).

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations in memory of Jerry may be made to the Colorado Symphony: 

Mailing Address: 1245 Champa St, Denver, CO 80204

Donate online at coloradosymphony.org

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CONTACTS:  

For more information or to request interviews, please contact:  

Nick Dobreff, Communications and Creative Director   

ndobreff@coloradosymphony.org – 303.308.2477 (o) 

For high-resolution, downloadable images of the Colorado Symphony, contact: ndobreff@coloradosymphony.org 

Support for the 2024/25 Colorado Symphony Season is provided by: The Scientific & Cultural Facilities District (SCFD), Genesee Mountain Foundation, Denver Arts & Venues, Bonfils-Stanton Foundation, Chamber Initiatives, and the Colorado Symphony Guild.

TICKETS:  

Tickets to Colorado Symphony events are available online at coloradosymphony.org/tickets, by phone at 303.623.7876, and in person at the Boettcher Concert Hall Box Office, Denver Performing Arts Complex, 1000 14th Street. The Box Office is open Monday – Friday, 10 a.m. – 5 p.m., Saturday, noon – 5 p.m., and two hours prior to each performance.

ABOUT THE COLORADO SYMPHONY

One of the leading orchestras in the United States, the Colorado Symphony Association is a not-for-profit 501 (c)(3) organization performing more than 150 concerts annually at Boettcher Concert Hall in downtown Denver and across Colorado. Led by Principal Conductor Peter Oundjian, the Colorado Symphony is home to eighty full-time musicians, representing more than a dozen nations, and regularly welcomes the most celebrated artists from the world of symphonic music and beyond. The orchestra celebrated their Centennial during the 2023/24 concert season. In the last year, the Colorado Symphony served over 340,000 people attending live performances at concert and non-traditional venues throughout Colorado’s Front Range. Recognized as an incubator of innovation, creativity, and excellence, the Colorado Symphony continually expands its reach through in-person and virtual education programs, outreach, and programming. The Colorado Symphony partners with the state’s leading musical artists, cultural organizations, corporations, foundations, sports teams, and individuals to expose diverse audiences to the transformative power of music. To learn more, visit coloradosymphony.org.