Wilson Roosevelt Jerman ‑ an American butler who served 11 different U.S. presidents in the White House – died of Covid-19 on May 16, 2020.
Jerman was born in Seaboard, North Carolina in 1929, the son of a farm worker. He dropped out of school at the age of 12 to work on a farm. In 1955, he moved to Washington, D.C. and worked as a caterer before being hired as a cleaner by the White House in 1957 during the administration of Dwight D. Eisenhower.
Jerman was promoted to butler under John F. Kennedy, and continued in that role until his retirement in 1993 during the Bill Clinton administration. He returned to the White House in 2003 in the George W. Bush administration. He worked as a maitre d' and elevator operator for Barack Obama before his final retirement in 2012.
To commemorate his 50-plus years of service in the White House, President Obama presented him with a series of plaques depicting all 11 presidents he served. First Lady Michelle Obama included a picture of her and the president in an elevator with Jerman in her best-selling memoir, Becoming.
Jerman died at the age of 91 on May 16, 2020 from complications due to Covid-19. He was survived by four children (a fifth died in 2011), as well as 12 grandchildren and 18 great-grandchildren. His first wife, Gladys, died in 1966; Lyndon B. Johnson asked his personal physician to treat her before she died. His second wife, Helen, died in the 1990s.