Retired orthopedic surgeon Jerome Joseph “Jerry” Moga, MD of Sherman, CT died peacefully Monday at New Milford Hospital with his family at his side. Born in Fostoria, Ohio, the second of three brothers, he was raised in West Virginia, North Carolina, and Niagara Falls, NY. A product of Jesuit education, Dr. Moga graduated from Canisius High School in Buffalo and the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, MA.
An athletic teen, at the age of 15 Jerry Moga was the 1947 National Junior Archery Champion. (He was toppled from his podium by his younger brother the following year.) After graduation from college, he traveled throughout Europe and ascended Mt. Matterhorn in Zermatt, Switzerland. Dr. Moga joined active naval service after graduation from medical school at the University of Rochester. He served as medical officer on the Essex-class aircraft carrier USS Boxer as part of the naval blockade during the Cuban Missile Crisis.
He completed his residency in orthopedics at St. Luke’s Hospital in New York and established his private practice in orthopedic surgery in Mt. Kisco, NY. His work was always a profession and a calling for him. Dr. Moga was a fixture at Northern Westchester Hospital and Grasslands Medical Center for more than 30 years. His patients will remember his gentle bedside manner; he listened and offered wisdom and advice on matters far beyond their physical ailments. Dr. Moga retired from active orthopedic practice in 1996 and joined Riverfront Medical Services, traveling to offices throughout Westchester, Putnam, and Dutchess counties until 2015.
Dr. Moga met his wife Sue when they were both working in the operating room at Northern Westchester Hospital. They were joyfully married for more than 54 years. Sue and their five children, and countless others, have been indelibly marked by his endless generosity. Jerry loved to help others, often in small and anonymous ways. He used his handyman skills to fix up every vacation rental home he stayed in, to repair potholes in public parking lots, and round up stray grocery carts at every store he visited.
His lifelong devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary, well known to his family and friends, manifested visibly in his penchant for setting up baskets of free rosaries at any Catholic church he frequented. In the last thirty years he distributed – always anonymously – several thousand blessed rosaries to the faithful of the New York and Bridgeport dioceses.
Survivors include his wife of 54 years, Susan Richie Moga of Sherman, CT; his brother Fr. Michael Moga, SJ of Zamboanga, Philippines; five children, Jerome J. Moga Jr. of Silver Spring, MD, Jennifer Hogan of St. Louis, MO, Michael Moga of Sherman, CT, Margaret Ibarra of Silver Spring, MD, and Donna Moga of Hyattsville, MD. Jerry and Sue were blessed with eleven grandchildren.
His funeral mass at St. Joseph’s Church in Somers, NY will be celebrated on Monday, March 14, which would have been his 90th birthday.
Visitation will be held at 1 Putnam Avenue, Brewster, New York from 1pm-5pm on Sunday, March 13, 2022.
In lieu of flowers donations can be made to the Jesuits USA East, 39 East 83rd Street, New York, NY 10028 (www.sjnen.org/donate-now), or to St. Benedict’s Abbey, Atchison, KS, where his grandson is a monk (www.kansasmonks.org)
