George Jafferis

George Jafferis’ obituary photo is of his bicycle, at his request. Its dozens of flags celebrate his ancestry (Greek and Slovak), but also the ancestry of friends and random people he met bicycling around New Haven. Like George, the bike was a little wild and took up lots of space – but mostly wanted to start conversations with strangers, and connect. George answered questions with meandering stories unlikely to answer the question. In conversation and biking and life, George cared about the journey, not the destination. If this obituary meanders, blame George.

George died at home of lung cancer on May 16, 2026, at age 91, with family (blood and chosen) at hand. He was born in New Haven in 1934 to Catherine Garzick and Stamatis Zaferopolous (Katherine & Thomas Jafferis) and grew up painfully shy (says he; we find this hard to believe). He graduated from West Haven High – where he received the nickname “Jeff” – and explored and played football in West Haven’s tidal marshes, phragmites crackling under each tackle.

His love of nature brought him into the woods, where he met his wife Anne, the only being on earth capable of simultaneously loving him and getting him to think before speaking (sometimes). He was one of two members of the Friends of the Tidal Marsh, which fought dozens of developments on New Haven’s tidal wetlands – but, he’d be quick to say – only succeeded in stopping one! He’d brag about his successes (biking 10 miles a day at 90!) but even more about his failures – because they were funnier, or connected him to the rest of us.

George flunked out of UConn because he “played too much ping pong,” then became an Army paratrooper because the extra $110 per jump paid for a second attempt at college. He graduated with a University of Bridgeport graphic design degree. At the last of his short-lived design jobs, a coworker said if George farted again, he’d punch him. George knew he wouldn’t be able to contain himself, so left the job. He was not one to be contained.

George spent 27 years as a Department of Transportation cartographer, hand-drawing maps of Connecticut’s 169 towns. His mapmaker’s familiarity with hidden natural gems and back roads led to fascinating outings with the New Haven Hiking Club (and later, the Meshomasic), and confrontations with landowners and water company officials who didn’t appreciate George’s under-appreciation of property lines.

George crossed invisible lines in conversation too, taking the opposing viewpoint in matters of politics, religion and the heart – to make things interesting, and to open empathy for the other side. George could be hard of listening and gruff and said what he felt even when it hurt, but he cared deeply about peoples’ wellbeing, and acted in ways that showed this even if he couldn’t shape his love into words.

George volunteered teaching incarcerated people to read, and stuck by and supported incarcerated members of his own family. Volunteering at Vincent Mauro Elementary School, Mr. George (as he was known by generations of New Haven young people) became the manager and full-time soccer mom of countless soccer teams, ferrying dozens of children to and from games (straight home if they won, out for ice cream if they lost). Like he’d done with his own son, nieces and nephews, he brought unsuspecting New Haven soccer kids on wild hikes to Block Island or Sleeping Giant, then stayed deeply involved in their lives decades after. Some unofficially adopted him into their family, and he unofficially adopted them into his.

After deteriorating eyesight limited his hiking (but not his biking, somehow!), he nurtured a neighborhood crew of fascinating oddballs - who he met at the local McDonald’s or by shouting conversation-starters at random passersby from his bicycle.

In his last days, the many disparate communities he’d cultivated collided in his beloved home – grownup soccer kids and elderly McDonald’s denizens, Orthodox Christian cousins and Jewish conversation partners. George was connecting us, just as he’d spent a life connecting with us.

George was predeceased by his wife Anne, and is survived by his son Aaron, his outlaw (not in-law!) Sarah, his grandchildren Rheo and Aza, his family of former soccer kids, and his nieces, nephews, great-nieces, great-nephews… and friends.

In lieu of flowers, email photos or reminiscences to georgejafferis@gmail.com. A Celebration of Life is planned for June 27 (email georgejafferis@gmail.com for time/location).