By Salomé Kotzé
Klerksdorp Record, Klerksdorp - On the day that should have been their 65th wedding anniversary, Hira Ramjee (90) is mourning the death of her late husband, Jerry, who passed away a day before.
April is also the birthday month of her beloved husband who would have turned 98 the 24th. Jerry Ramjee died of heart failure in a Pretoria hospital on Tuesday April 15. He was frail and since January not the man he used to be, shares his daughter, Anila Parbhoo.“Dementia has gotten hold of him and after a nasty fall in January he just wasn’t himself anymore. He had such a full life and for that we are grateful,’’ she said.
In the last years of his life, Jerry and his wife, stayed with their two daughters, commuting between Pretoria and Cape Town. They were a well-known family in Manzilpark and Jerry was a sought after photographer who once had Madiba and Archbishop Tutu in front of his lens. For 33 years, he worked as photographer and lithograph at Klerksdorp Record before he retired and continued his photography studio. In later years, he discovered the joy of painting and put the camera down, only taking photos of his grandchildren.
Jerry was a generous man, keen to share his knowledge on photography, and always very humble about the accolades he received as a photographer. He started his career in his father’s shoe repair business in Bloemhof and hated every minute of it. After his father’s death, Jerry, moved to Klerksdorp in 1962 after being offered a job as darkroom assistant for local photographer Norman Clayton who recognised his talent as a photographer.
He started working at Klerksdorp Record in 1965 and that is when his work caught the attention of national and international photography salons.
He received international fame with his incredible portraits and eventually became a sought after photographer in Klerksdorp, preserving many wedding and matric farewell memories for later generations. His legacy will not be forgotten.
