Obituary
Wayne Anthony Jurik

Wayne Anthony Jurik 1959 – 2025 Wayne Anthony Jurik—beloved husband and father, devoted servant of the Living God, and extraordinary soul—passed away on January 4, 2025, leaving behind a legacy of brilliance, humor, and resilience. Born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1959 as the fourth of six children, Wayne’s life was anything but ordinary. At the age of 18, Wayne joined the United States Air Force, where he trained as an electronics technician and rose to become a nuclear intelligence specialist. He was highly dedicated to his service and possessed a strong sense of duty. Yet Wayne's heart extended far beyond his professional accomplishments. He carried his compassion and faith across the globe, serving on mission fields in Ethiopia and Mexico, where his generosity, servanthood, and conviction touched countless lives. He was the “behind-the-scenes” man, the brother who’d repair water pumps at a Christian orphanage in Africa and fix the excavator so that a ministry in Saltillo could expand its grounds. After his time on the mission field, Wayne married and settled in New York, where he worked as an electronic engineering technician for 14 years at the West Point Mint. His technical expertise continued to shine in this role, and his passion for defending the weak led him to become a shop steward, earning him deep respect from his colleagues and friends. Wayne was a man of contrasts—an introvert who could, in an instant, become the center of every party because of his lightning-fast sense of humor. His legendary one-liners made him unforgettable, and he left every person he met with a story to tell. He was handsome and endlessly unique—a man who added color to the life of his more linear-thinking wife, whom he humorously described as his “import model from Germany.” When she started working for Ariel Ministries, he once again became the “behind-the-scenes” man, supporting her every step of the way. Wayne was a devoted father to Dominick and Marcus, whose lives he filled with love, laughter, and wisdom. He instilled in them an interest in restoring old things and making them like new. Both of his boys will carry parts of his legacy into the world. Wayne faced life’s challenges with limitless curiosity and courage, including living a third of his years with stage 4 cancer. Despite countless surgeries and being on chemotherapy for the majority of these years, he never let his illness dim his zest for life. He defied all expectations and surpassed statistical probabilities. His death, much like his life, was unique, as he managed to hold on far longer than anyone thought possible. Above all, Wayne loved his God. He openly proclaimed that he was a sinner saved by grace through faith, and he was always the first to ask for forgiveness when his human nature got the better of him. In the last months of his life, he purposefully prepared himself for his eternal home, studying what the Word has to say about heaven by listening to Bible teachers like Dr. Arnold Fruchtenbaum, Mottel Baleston, and Gary Hamrick. Wayne Anthony Jurik—brilliant, bold, and beloved—will be deeply missed, but his light will shine on in the lives of those who were blessed to know him. We, his wife and his sons, know beyond the shadow of a doubt that when he took his last breath on earth, it was also his first breath in heaven. He is now more alive than he ever was in his human body, and we will see him again in a not-so-distant future. What a glorious moment that will be! In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to Ariel Ministries (www.ariel.org) in San Antonio, Texas, or a tree be bought in Israel (https://shop.jnf.org/collections/in-memory).