Necrology

Julius “Jules” Walter Fertig '70

Mar. 6, 1948-Nov. 25, 2024

Julius “Jules” Walter Fertig ’70 died on Oct. 25, 2024, in Old Orchard Beach, Maine. Born in New York City on March 6, 1948, and following the death of his mother in 1955, he was raised by his father in Dobbs Ferry, N.Y., and came to Hamilton from Dobbs Ferry High School.

On the Hill, he majored in art and joined Alpha Delta Phi fraternity, where in his senior year he served as house steward. He ran track as a freshman and was a member of the football team and also played intramural hockey all four years. Beginning in his sophomore year, Jules was also on the staff of WHCL. He later recalled lugging a dresser drawer full of 45-r.p.m. records from the AD house to the basement of Minor Theater, from which he would choose the playlist for each of his broadcasts.

During the summer following his second year, while working at the Newagen Inn, a small summer resort hotel on Southport Island, Jules met Barbara Watts of Natick, Mass., a student at Ithaca College majoring in speech pathology and audiology. They married in Barnstable, Mass., on June 5, 1971. They had three sons.

By the time of their marriage, Jules was already enrolled in the master’s program in architecture at the University of Pennsylvania. He completed that degree in 1973. For the next seven years, he worked for architectural firms first in Syracuse and later in Utica, while he and his family moved over time from Baldwinsville to Morrisville and, finally, Cazenovia. In 1980, he opened his own firm in Cazenovia close to his residence, enabling him, as he noted in his 15th reunion yearbook, “to walk to work, come home for lunch, and … thoroughly enjoy life in a small town.” 

Six years later Maine would once again beckon. In 1986, Jules, Barbara, and their sons left Central New York for Yarmouth, just south of Freeport, the home of L.L. Bean. In 1987, Jules became executive assistant to that company’s president, devoting much of his time to customer service, with particular attention to, as he later put it, “potentially difficult customers, solving their problems, and, hopefully, regaining their confidence and patronage.” He also maintained an architectural consulting practice on the side. Like their previous homes, their residence in Yarmouth was renovated to suit his architect’s aesthetic standards.

Jules left L.L.Bean in 2004 and took a job as a property manager for Avesta Housing, a charitable organization located in Portland, Maine, whose mission is “to improve lives and strengthen communities by promoting and providing quality affordable homes for people in need.” He would remain with Avesta until he retired in 2017.

Jules had a strong social conscience, and his association with Avesta was just one example of his engagement. Church-related responsibilities constituted a throughline of his commitment to others. When living in Cazenovia, he was a member of the Community Covenant Church in Manlius and co-leader of a Christian Brigade Program for boys ages 5 through 8. After they joined St. Peter’s Episcopal Church in Cazenovia, he and Barbara were also a registration couple for the Central New York Episcopal Marriage Encounter Program. After moving to Maine, he became a deacon at the First Baptist Church of Freeport, and, following retirement and their move to Old Orchard Beach, he and Barbara were members of the Eastpoint Christian Church in South Portland.

Other service included taking trips as a board member of Central Africa Vision to support peace and reconciliation efforts in Rwanda, Burundi, and Congo. Closer to home, he volunteered at the Cumberland County Jail and in a street ministry program. 

Jules’s hobbies included running, biking, kayaking, and skiing, and he also enjoyed watercolor painting and photography. With Barbara and their sons, he vacationed at different times in Europe as well as in Belize, Mexico, and Hawaii, and on one occasion they traveled across the country in a recreational vehicle. Closer to home, they regularly visited Mohegan Island and Acadia National Park.

A donor to the Hamilton Fund, Jules also served on his class and reunion gift committees as well as a Career Center volunteer. 

Julius W. Fertig is survived by his wife, their three sons, and five grandchildren.

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