David P. Lerman was born on October 27, 1956, in Chicago, Illinois, to his mother Corrine, and father Louis. His older sister, Rebecca (aka Ricky) still remembers their shared love of the many family dogs they owned over the years, including Doberman Pinschers and a rare white German shepherd. She also remembers Friday night as “Ice Cream Night,” where her and David each got to pick out a pint of ice cream from the local Walgreen’s.

Like any good younger brother, David teased Ricky. “One of my favorite movies of all-time is West Side Story,” Ricky says. “To this day, I know almost all the words of the screenplay. And I used to sing ‘em at home… David used to think it was so funny. He would sing it, and swing his hips back and forth, and go, ’When you’re a Jet, you’re a Jet all the way.’ And I’d go, ‘Shut up! Get out of here!’ He just used to laugh. He’s a little smart aleck.”

As he grew older, his love for laughter was matched only by his love for learning. At 13, he had his bar mitzvah after completing Hebrew language courses and reading a portion of the Torah in Hebrew. He also studied hard in school and talked about wanting to get a degree from Harvard or Stanford and someday becoming a cardiovascular surgeon.

Instead of going to Harvard or Stanford though, he stayed near home and earned his bachelor’s degree in biochemistry from The University of Chicago. Soon after, he went to work at Baxter Travenol as a chemist. At Baxter, he quickly became known as a guy who could get stuff, like coveted Broadway tickets, concert tickets, etc.

One day, he was walking down the hallway at Baxter to deliver two best-seat-in-the-house Chorus Line tickets to a friend when he saw a beautiful woman he had never seen before pop out of a doorway. “Who is that?” he wondered. And he quickly found a new use for his friend’s Chorus Line tickets.

After introducing himself, he asked Jeane Kowalik to go with him to Chorus Line by saying, “If you turn down these tickets, I’m going to kill you.” She thought, “That’s unique. I’ve never heard anybody say that to me before.”

His unique pickup line wasn’t the only thing that stood out to her. “A lot of times in meetings at work, people just sit there,” Jeane says, “but David made meetings interesting and kind of stirred up interest and enthusiasm.”

Dave also impressed Jeane by his willingness to drive “junk cars that were falling apart.” He drove an old Ford Maverick at one point, and later on, Jeane sold/gave him her Oldsmobile Cutlass. He drove it even after rust holes started forming in the floor. When Jeane’s niece Bethany visited Jeane, she reported back to the family that she could “see the street under me as we were driving.” Jeane saw David’s frugality as a mark of confidence. “He obviously wasn’t trying to impress me with his cars,” Jeane says.

While frugality and an unorthodox sense of confidence drew Jeane to David, Jeane’s beauty and faith drew David to Jeane. “He found out about me going to Willow Creek Church, and he had a lot of spiritual questions,” Jeane explains. “He just had a hunger– a spiritual hunger.”

After hearing Willow Creek Pastor Lee Strobel’s atheist-to-Christian conversion story, David continued asking Jeane hard questions and investigating everything from the logic of the resurrection to archaeological and historical facts. In the mid-80’s, after diving into books, sermons, and many honest conversations, David gradually surrendered his life to Jesus and was baptized.

In the years during and after his gradual conversion, David and Jeane’s friendship grew. David helped Jeane with taxes and finances. Jeane helped David find a job at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. David introduced Jeane to his family. Jeane introduced David to her parents, sister, brother, nieces, and nephews.

David endeared himself to Jeane’s nieces and nephews by giving them memorable gifts. Jeane’s nephew Robert Vischer remembers, “The first time I met him, I was 5 or 6 years old. While dramatically singing, “Da, da… Da, da…” to the melody of the Jaws theme, he unveiled an inflatable shark that was bigger than me.”

Jeane’s niece, Michelle Tucker, will never forget when David gave her a fake diamond ring and playfully asked her to be his girlfriend. “Every time I’d see him, he’d talk to me about how I was his girlfriend, and how I was just like that girl from that My Girl movie.” She continues, “And he’d sing, ‘Michelle, My belle’ every time I’d see him.”

After successfully endearing himself to her family, David never proposed to Jeane. Instead, he had a conversation with her. “Remember, we’re talking about David,” Jeane jokes. “It wasn’t like your typical proposal where someone gets down on bended knee.” She continues, “We were talking like, ‘OK, we have a really good friendship here,’ and I was sort of trying to figure out what I was going to do as far as my job situation – if I was going to stay in Illinois or look for a job elsewhere. I was like, ‘OK. Should I do this or not do this? What is this relationship?’”

On September 16, 1989, with only family, a few close friends, and a pastor present, David and Jeane married inside of a small chapel in South Barrington, Illinois. At an intimate reception they made a rule: No clinking of silverware on glasses would make them kiss. They would only kiss if guests came to the head table and sang a love song.

David and Jeane honeymooned in Bar Harbor, Maine, where they shared views of the coast, the fall foliage, and ate “the most incredible” blueberry pancakes from Jordan’s, a local restaurant.

Their travels didn’t stop once the honeymoon ended though. To slow down from a busy work and travel schedule at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, David and Jeane vacationed all across the U.S. and around the world. Their trips to Switzerland, Austria, and Slovakia still hold special memories for Jeane. They also loved to frequently visit the West Coast. “He loved the ocean,” Jeane says. “He always loved to be in California. He loved sunsets.”

David and Jeane’s travels took them around the world, but it also often took them to familiar places like Jackson, Michigan, where Jeane’s sister and brother-in-law lived with their four kids, and Eden Prairie, Minnesota, where Jeane’s parents, brother, sister-in-law, and two kids lived.

Over the years, Uncle Dave always left his bombastic mark on weddings, graduations, holidays, and sometimes ordinary weekends by lighting off bottle rockets, wildcats, and Roman candles at each family get together. “Aunt Jeane brought us presents. Uncle David brought us fireworks,” says David’s nephew Robert.

Uncle Dave quickly became a family favorite among Jeane’s nieces and nephews. He treated them to midnight snacks of pizza and ice cream while teasing them about crushes he thought they had. He played catch for hours in the backyard. He snuck them dollar bills when Aunt Jeane wasn’t looking. And he jumped in grocery carts and let the kids wheel him around in numerous grocery stores. Jeane’s sister Janice says, “I remember the fun he had with my kids and the stories they’d tell of him climbing into grocery carts.”

His love of adventure and fun extended into every area of life. At work, he filled his office with remote control cars, toy trucks, stuffed animals, basketball hoops and Pez dispensers. In goofy family pictures, he always competed for the silliest looking face. He bought a Hyabusa motorcycle and rode it out in the country at speeds he was careful not to tell Jeane about.

David traveled extensively for work, sharing his 25 plus years experience in Global Derivatives Markets from the portfolio management, trading and Business Development side. He was Senior Director, of the Asset Manager Client Segment, an author, and a member of CME Group’s E-mini Stock Index Complex launch as well as the Micro E-mini equity products – the most successful futures launch ever.

As his nephews and nieces grew older, David used his resources to help them. Along with Aunt Jeane, he manned the guest book at Bethany’s wedding. He conspired to shoot off confetti cannons for Kristin’s “You may kiss the bride” moment. He rode his Hyabusa motorcycle to southern Illinois to see Robert and his friends on their bicycle trip across America. Then he paid for Robert to go to Cannon Beach in Oregon and watch “an epic sunset.”

At Michelle’s wedding after her daddy/daughter dance was done, her dad sat down and she invited Uncle Dave up. They danced to the Beatles song “Michelle, My Belle.” Uncle Dave used to say, “That was a top 5 life moment for me.”

David loved to laugh, and he always made people laugh. Even near the end of his life, Jeane remembers nurses coming out of his room laughing. And when he became too weak to laugh, his nephew Robert saw him muster all of his energy to smile at punchlines of funny stories.

David Lerman walked into the eternal joy and laughter of Jesus on Nov. 10, 2022. After a long 18 month battle with leukemia and after exhausting experimental treatments and transfusion options, he passed from his hospital room surrounded by family into eternal life with his Savior.

Shortly before his passing, his nieces, nephews, in-laws, and sister joined together around him to sing hymns and read scripture. Just moments before he breathed his last, his brother-in-law Bob read John 11:25, “I am the resurrection and the life. He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live.”

In those 18 months of battling leukemia, Jeane witnessed David fighting hard. He fought to study and beat the disease. He fought to eat and get his weight up. And he fought to believe that he’d get better. Jeane explains, “A couple of months ago when we were at the doctor’s office, and he had the high cancer cell counts, David said to the doctors, ‘How can it be that I’m still alive?’ And the doctors said, ‘We don’t know.’”

During his final days, Jeane overheard his final earthly wish for all of the people he loved. In his last phone conversation with his 91-year-old mother, David said, “Mom, I want to see you in Heaven.” He wanted her to know the love and forgiveness he had found in Jesus Christ. Although he lost the battle to leukemia, he leaves behind him a taste of eternal victory in the love and laughter he shared with the people around him.

David Lerman was preceded in death by his father, Louis Lerman. He is survived by his wife, Jeane Lerman; mother, Corrine; sister, Rebecca Lerman; and stepmother, Diane Lerman. He is dearly missed by his mother-in-law, Mildred Kowalik; in-laws, and four nieces and two nephews and their kids, five great nieces and four great nephews.

This is what a few family members, friends and co-workers have said.

David’s boss at Chicago Mercantile Exchange:
“You have been one of the brightest lights for me at the CME.”

David’s oldest niece, Kristin:
"Aunt Jeane and him were a part of our immediate family. Our next family photo won’t be the same without him. He was the fun uncle who poured himself into those that he loved. I’m so grateful I was one of those he loved."

Kristin’s husband, Doug:
“Uncle Dave called us quite a few years ago and asked if he could have a UPS shirt. Just after that, UPS told us they were getting a new uniform company, and they let us pick whatever old stuff we wanted. After I sent it to him, Uncle Dave sent me a picture of him in the UPS gear, and I said, ‘All you need is a truck, And you’re ready to go deliver.’”

David's second oldest niece, Bethany:
"When Dave, my husband, and I lived in California, and we had Danielle, our first child, Aunt Jeane and Uncle Dave came and saw us. It was special to have them there. They took us out to breakfast."

His great niece, Darcy (Bethany’s daughter):
“When I was 19 years old, he helped me start my first S&P 500 fund. I’m so grateful for that. That made me think, ‘He truly cares about my well-being. Things that remind me of him are deep dish pizza, Chicago hot dogs, pez candy, dollar bills, and Chicago Bulls.”

His third oldest niece, Michelle:
“When I think about Uncle Dave, I think about a grown adult who wants to be a kid. One time, he jumped into a small box at Christmas like a cat. He did it for the pure enjoyment of making the kids laugh. I wish I had more time to spend with him. I just wonder why Uncle Dave had to go.”

David’s youngest nephew, Robert:
“Uncle Dave wasn’t only my uncle. He was also a real-life legend to me, somebody who I wanted to be like. He shot off fireworks. He rode a top-of-the line crotch rocket. And he bookmarked his books with 100 dollar bills. He not only was eccentric and fun, he took an interest in me. He took me to the grocery store to get basketball cards. He played H-O-R-S-E and shot free throws in the neighbor’s driveway with me. When I beat him, he gave me money. We both loved the Chicago Bulls, Giordanno’s pizza, bottle rockets, bonfires, and adventure. There are so many things that I love because I love Uncle Dave. Whenever I see basketball cards, pizza, fireworks, motorcycles, and basketball hoops in driveways, I think of him.”

Robert’s wife, JoAnna:
“When I first met Uncle Dave, Rob and I were engaged, we visited Uncle Dave & Aunt Jeane. The first thing Uncle Dave did was brought out suitcases, and he shared how we both are bringing things into marriage that have nothing to do with each other, but that we need to learn to carry each other’s baggage. I felt really loved by him. He was being intentional. He didn’t want us to just stay married and survive marriage. He wanted us to thrive. I felt so loved by these people that I didn’t know very well at the time.”

David’s sister-in-law, Janice Vischer:
“Within the last year or two, I was talking about getting a new dining room table. I just was talking about a smaller dining room table, a narrow dining room table. Dave responded in a very surprising way, “Why would you ever want to get rid of that dining room table? It brings up so many fond memories of family gatherings around it.” I remember just being surprised by his response. I don’t think I’ll ever part with my dining room table.”

David’s brother-in-law, Bob Vischer:
“Thank you for adding to the lives of my children things that I didn’t have, but you and Jeane had. I’m grateful that you cared about my kids.”

David’s sister, Rebecca:
"I wish I had more time, meaning I wish I had more Thanksgiving dinners with you and Christmas dinners. I wish that you and I had more time growing up, really trying to discuss our hopes, fears, and desires. I just missed being a family, and I’m glad I was there at the end."

David’s wife, Jeane:
"He was a very giving person. He always accepted people for who they were unconditionally. That’s a lesson that I’m still learning, but I learned that a lot from him. He was always energetic, and his body was always moving and always on the go. He was very passionate about whatever he chose to be passionate about at the time. He goes full force into everything whether it’s motorcycle or reading or work or Bible study. He always gave it his full attention, very passionate about it. He wasn’t just my best friend. It went way beyond that. He stayed with me and put up with me through everything, even when others left. We did everything together."

*All obituaries are submitted by family and friends of the deceased.

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