Obituary of Jeffrey Wayne Forman

Jeffrey Wayne Forman (January 4, 1953 – February 10, 2025) passed away in Aptos, CA after a valiant two-year battle with a rare autoimmune disorder. Born in Massachusetts to Kalman and Bernice (Sher) Forman, Jeff grew up in the Boston area alongside his sister, Marsha, and brother, Spencer. A natural athlete, he played basketball and rugby throughout high school in Canton, MA, and at Springfield College in Springfield, MA. After moving to California, Jeff married Kathleen (Kathi) Leary in 1979. Together, they built a loving family with their two sons, Jared (1980) and Myles (1982). Jeff embraced fatherhood wholeheartedly, coaching his sons’ baseball and soccer teams and sharing his passion for nature through family hikes and adventures around the world. Among their most cherished experiences were hiking the 33-mile Milford Track in New Zealand when Jared and Myles were thirteen and eleven and, upon Jeffrey’s retirement in 2015, trekking the 26-mile Inca Trail into Machu Picchu. At home in Aptos, he found joy in fishing, barbecuing, gardening, and hosting gatherings filled with laughter—often punctuated by a well-timed Rodney Dangerfield joke. His granddaughter, Saoirse (2017), became his favorite gardening companion. In 2024, Jeff and Kathi delighted in officially welcoming Brooke (Safran) into the family when she married Myles. Professionally, Jeffrey was a pioneer in adapted physical education and stress management. After earning his B.S. and M.Ed. from Springfield College, he moved to California to work as a certified corrective therapist at the VA Hospital in Palo Alto. In 1978, he became the executive head of DeAnza College’s Adapted Physical Education Program, where he worked in varying capacities until his retirement in 2015. During his tenure at DeAnza, Jeff received his Ph.D. from the US International University in San Diego and, in 1991, founded the first accredited massage therapy program for a public community college in California. He also founded Stress Reduction Systems, authored two books on stress management and massage therapy, and played a key role in advancing the massage therapy profession through education and advocacy. Jeffrey will be deeply missed by his family, friends, and colleagues.