John Pierre Ameer born November 14th, 1936 in Yonkers, N.Y. to Agnes and Eprim Ameer. John loved his home on Cape Cod with his wife Margarita Perez. John loved history, films, music, the New York Times crossword puzzle, and his Cape Cod Community Media Center television show Talking Together. John influenced students through his decades of teaching in high school and college. One of his former students, Bart Aronson, described his impact, “He is present for me everyday, reminding me to be decent, open-minded, open-hearted, rigorous in thought”… “John’s legacy is immense – hundreds if not thousands of people dedicated to enriching others. One of those rare people about whom we can say with total conviction that the world is a better place for his having lived.”
John Ameer was an administrator and teacher in secondary schools. He has worked in education programs at Harvard School for Boys, Cheshire Academy, St Mark’s School of Texas, and Westlake School for Girls, Harvard Graduate School of Education, Simmons College, Clark University, and Worcester State University. He received his AB degree from Yale University in 1959, attended Princeton Seminary, Yale Divinity School, and received his EdM and EdD degrees from Harvard University in the history of education.
John Ameer authored Assyrians in Yonkers: Reminiscences of a Community in 2008, and he wrotethe preface to the book Missionary Life in Persia in 2018. At Harvard University in 1997 he completed a doctoral dissertation entitled “Yankees and Nestorians: The Establishment of American Schools Among the Nestorians of Iran and Turkey.”
John Pierre Ameer is survived by his wife Margarita Perez, his daughter Inge-Lise Ameer, his sister and brother Eleanor Runken and Franklin Alexander, his grandchildren Mollie Agnes and Max Eprim Slomiak. He is also survived by his nephew Gerhard John and wife Nicole and children Sienna and Scarlett, niece Annalise Bryan, her husband Chris and children Taylor and Lauren.
A memorial service will be announced by the family at a later date.