Gerard A. Lukas

Gerard A. Lukas, or Jerry for short, sadly passed away peacefully on the evening of January 25th 2024 in Phoenix, Arizona, surrounded by his loved ones. He was 73 years old. Gerard was born on July 26th 1950 in Queens, New York. He was born to Rheinhardt and Marguerite Lukas. When Gerard was about eight years old, the family moved from Queens to Phoenix and found a permanent home there. He attended high school at East High and graduated in 1969. Shortly after high school, he enlisted in the military and honorably served his country in the Navy from 1970 to 1971.

After his service in the military, he worked for Scottsdale Aviation as an aircraft mechanic for a few years. Shortly after that he got a job as an engineer working for Motorola. He worked at Motorola, which turned into General Dynamics some years later, for 39 years. In the early 90’s he enrolled at Gateway Community College and graduated with two Associates of Arts degrees in engineering and robotics. While working for Motorola he became part of their ski club, which he became an avid downhill skier and skied many beautiful, picturesque locations such as the Canadian Rockies, Breckenridge and Telluride Colorado, just to name a few.

On one of his many ski trips is where he met the love of his life, Linda. On that fateful day, while boarding the plane, he fell into her lap and the rest was a loving, 35 years of marriage. Gerard and Linda married September 10th 1988 and had three children together. He enjoyed spending time with his kids working on cars, playing video games and designing model train sets. Gerard loved to work on and restore cars in his free time. He passed that joy onto his sons, which enjoy working on their own cars to this day. Gerard also had a special fondness for trains and would watch hours and hours of train documentaries. Many days were spent going to the train store with his kids and picking out the latest model trains that they could bring home and play with. He built his own model train world with his kids to enjoy.

Gerard is preceded in death by his father Rheinhardt and mother Marguerite Lukas. He is survived by his loving wife Linda and his three children, Kallie, Kyle, and Matthew, and their better halves Josh, Sandra, and Kayleigh. He is also survived by his granddaughter Josie, who he loved and adored very much. They had a special bond and their unique names for each other were “Pop Pop” and “Sweety Pie.” Gerard will forever be remembered in our hearts.

We appreciate donations in lieu of flowers. Memorial donations can be made to The American Diabetes Association, The American Heart Association or The Arizona Humane Society.  

A visitation will be held on Monday, February 5th from 5-8 P.M. at Whitney & Murphy Funeral Home, 4800 E. Indian School Road in Phoenix. On Tuesday, February 6th at 10 A.M. Mass will be celebrated at St. Theresa Catholic Church at 5045 E. Thomas Rd. in Phoenix. Burial to follow at St. Francis Catholic Cemetery, Phoenix.