Keeping up with the Joneses
Jeffrey Jones is the husband of Cal U. president Geraldine Jones. The two met when they were children and have been married for more than 40 years.
Jeffrey Jones’ gallery, Capture Inc. Photographic Services in Brownsville, is not only an outlet for his creativity, but a showcase for other artists’ work.
Cal U. men’s basketball coach Kent McBride and Jeffrey Jones.
Jeffrey and Dr. Geraldine Jones, pictured in an upstairs room of their home in 2013.
During his long and successful career in the high-tech industry, Jeffrey Jones’s biggest cheerleader and closest confidante was his wife, Geraldine Jones. Now he’s happy to return the favor.
Geraldine Jones was named acting president of California University of Pennsylvania in 2012 and then unanimously appointed to the presidency in 2016, and Jeffrey Jones, 65, stepped into his role as first gentleman.
While 27 percent of universities are led by women today, there are no specific expectations for the first gentleman.
So, it’s a blank slate for Jones.
“My role as first gentleman is evolving, and I like it that way,” says Jones, who also is the first minority presidential spouse at Cal U. “I really don’t like the idea of a spouse who has a distinct role and that’s what you do.”
Jones is a member of the spouse/partner planning committee of the American Association of State Colleges and Universities, where members discuss their responsibilities as the spouse of a college or university’s highest-ranking officer, and share ideas and experiences.
Jones said his biggest job is “to be Geri’s number one cheerleader.”
“There were times in my career when you really needed someone with whom you could air things out and to support you, and Geri was always my number one counsel,” says Jones, who retired from Hewlett-Packard in 2010. “We’ve been able to help each other. We’ve always been there for each other.”
Jones has placed an emphasis on volunteering at the university, and students and faculty can regularly spot him on campus.
He is a judge for the Scholastic Arts and Writing Awards (winning pieces of art and writing are displayed in the gallery of the campus’s Manderino Library), and is working to form the Bowtie Club, a fundraising organization focusing on scholarship and alumni recognition.
“I think his impact has been tremendous. In his role as first gentleman, he’s really immersed himself into everything Cal U.,” said Tony Mauro, associate vice president for university development and alumni relations. “He is such a supporter of the university and the community, and is integral in making connections with both. He does a wonderful job, attending athletic events, promoting the university, promoting programs and alumni, as well as activities and initiatives.”
Jones also has blended his love for the university with his passion for photography.
When the Cal U. women’s basketball team won the NCAA Division II national championship in 2015, Jones created a photo book chronicling the title run, which he and Dr. Jones presented to the Lady Vulcans players and coaches as a gift.
He published a similar photo book capturing images from an administrative conference trip to Turkey.
Jones owns an art gallery, Capture Inc. Photographic Services, located in the lower level of the historic Flatiron Building in Brownsville. The studio showcases his work, along with sculptures, but he plans to display and promote other artists’ works.
A self-taught photographer – he studied the works of Ansel Adams, Annie Leibovitz and Life magazine photographers Ralph Crane and Margaret Bourke-White – Jones started taking photos in 1971, when he purchased an SLR camera and developed photos in his darkroom.
His career didn’t allow him time to focus on photography, but, Jones says, “I was the guy on vacation with two cameras, trying to pose my family just right while they’re saying, ‘Dad, just get the picture.'”
Jones first met his wife when he was 5 years old.
“I was in church, and there was the prettiest girl I had ever seen. She walked in and sat at the piano and played,” recalls Jones. “At that time, I’d never heard anything more impressive. It was like Nat King Cole.”
Their families were close, and the two remained friends throughout high school, when Jones finally got the courage to ask her to attend a concert in 1971.
“She was thinking I was being nice and there was no alternative motive, but I had set the trap,” says Jones, laughing. “When I look back on it, there’s not much time in my life when I didn’t see Geri in it. It’s just been wonderful. Our life experience has been wonderful, and I feel blessed.”
Jones serves on several boards, including the Washington County Tourism Board and California Borough’s Economic Development Board, but he makes sure the couple’s schedules enable them to spend time with each other.
They golf, go to the movies, spend time with their family, including two grown daughters, Autumn and Courtney, and a 14-year-old granddaughter, Jurnee Lantz, and walk their dog, a Labradoodle named Ali, in honor of the boxer.
Three times a year, they host a “soup to nuts family dinner,” says Jones, who does the chopping and cutting for his wife, who he declares is an excellent cook.
Jones mused that he is busier now than he was before he retired.
But his primary work is to support his wife and her commitment to the university.
“I want Cal U. alumni to know we’re going to continue to make you proud. This university is still going in the right direction. This university is in great hands, and we constantly think about those students who have gone through these doors and those who are coming in now,” says Jones. “It has been a pleasure, an honor and a joy to be a part of this university.”