Gerald "Jerry" Lafferty - Millennium Cremation Service

Gerald “Jerry” Lafferty

February 06, 1939 ~ December 21, 2025

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Gerald “Jerry” F. Lafferty, PhD, of Vero Beach, Florida, passed away on December 21, 2025. He was born on February 6, 1939, in Des Moines, Iowa, and was raised in Sioux City, Iowa.

Jerry graduated from the University of Iowa, where he was a proud member of the 1960 Iowa Hawkeyes National Championship football team (#33). After graduation, he honorably served his country in Vietnam with the United States Navy.

Following his military service, Jerry devoted his professional life to higher education. He enjoyed a long and distinguished career, ultimately retiring as Vice President of Florida Atlantic University. His leadership, dedication, and commitment to education left a lasting impact on the many students, colleagues, and institutions he served.

Jerry was married to Colleen Vondrak Lafferty and was a devoted father and grandfather. He is survived by his three children and nine grandchildren, who will cherish his memory and legacy.

Condolences may be shared online at www.millenniumcremationservice.com.

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Condolence

Xavier & Tere Gaya

December 31, 2025, 9:23 pm

My wife and I were both lucky to be counted as friends of our dear neighbors Jerry and Colleen Lafferty.
A true scholar and a no nonsense guy who adored his late wife, his children, grandchildren and his friends.
We will miss him dearly.

Roger and Cleo Han sen

December 31, 2025, 11:40 pm

Jerry and Colleen were such an important part of our lives. They were true friends. Maybe we wouldn’t see them as often as we would have liked but always had good phone conversations. Jerry and Colleen were such a special couple and produced an outstanding family. Love you all. Roger and Cleo Hansen

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Recent Reviews

The service from Millennium was outstanding. Rachel was sweet, personable and very comforting. It was important to me that my dad was kept locally where I knew where he would be. Very nice facility, state of the art and quality of my fathers remains were so refined compared to my mothers years ago. I highly recommend this place for an affordable choice for your loved one. Thank you for making an already stressful event easy. With high regards, the Esposito and Keith Family.

Esposito and Keith Family

Vero Beach
Millennium Cremation provided a fantastic service to our family at a difficult time. Our beloved mother passed away in Vero Beach and the rest of the family was in other parts of the country. Due to the Covid health crisis, none of us could get to Vero Beach in person. That's where Millennium took over. They helped us manage everything, coordinated with a cemetery in Maine, managed the obituaries, expedited all the paperwork, and even delivered an important document locally that saved us days. Funeral director Rachel was a godsend, and she made it clear what she was going to do, and what we needed to do. If you know what you want, Millennium is highly recommended, and the savings versus the full service mortuaries is significant.

M. Cross

Vero Beach

Our Price for Direct Cremation $795

Direct Cremation Fee Includes

Transportation from the place of death to our family owned crematory
Basic alternative cremation container
Refrigeration of your loved one
Cremation performed by our crematory professional
Securing all required authorizations
Filing the death certificate
Notifying social security administration
If veteran, filing for free US flag
Assisting with newspaper obituaries
Cremains are returned to you in a temporary container

Other Fees That May Apply

Medical Examiner (fees vary by county)
Transportation outside 35 miles
Death certificates (fees vary by county)
Newspaper Obituaries (fee charged by newspaper)
Keepsakes
Permanent Urn
Jewelry

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