OBITUARY: Jerry Dean Preston Passed into Peace Feb. 21 at Age 90
By Space Coast Daily // March 2, 2025
Collections of Preston Studio lamps and windows now reside in the homes of noted collectors
BREVARD COUNTY, FLORIDA – Jerry Dean Preston passed into peace at 6:30 in the morning February 21, 2025. Jerry had just turned 90 on the 26th of January – a very long productive life.
Jerry grew up in the oil fields of west Texas although his family was from Louisiana. His life included two years in the army in Europe in the 1950s as a Chaplain’s Assistant and after completing college spending 14 years as a Field Director in the Red Cross.
Jerry completed two tours in Vietnam, meeting Imedla Marcos in the Philippines. He ended his career at Patrick Air Force Base.
Jerry had taken up stained glass in the mid 1970s and saw the collection at Rollins College which is now housed in the Morse Museum in Winter Park. In 1974 he produced his first butterfly lamp and sold it in Palm Beach for $2,500.
That first sale convinced him and his partner, John Emery, to open their studio account at the bank in 1976.
Collections of Preston Studio lamps and windows now reside in the homes of noted collectors including the William Randolph Hearst Family, royal residences in Europe and in the estate of Jacquline Kennedy Onassis. Mrs. Onasis was gifted a window by author George Plimpton.
The artistic life of Jerry and his partner John Emery is the subject of the new book on amazon “Global Glass, Art by Preston Studios.”
A memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. on April 4 at Holy Trinity Episcopal church in Melbourne. Eleven Preston Studios windows illuminate the narthex entrance to the church.
