Jon W. Newsom, lifelong teacher, arts advocate
Jon W. Newsom, 84, of Lewes, passed away Friday, Sept. 26, 2025.
After retiring from the Library of Congress in 2005, where he served as chief of the Music Division, Jon began a new chapter in Lewes centered on teaching, creativity, and community.
Beginning in 2008, he taught a wide range of courses through the University of Delaware’s Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, covering music, literature, film, and cultural history. Each course was built from scratch, reflecting his meticulous preparation and enthusiasm for sharing ideas. His students remember a teacher who combined deep knowledge with warmth and humor, encouraging curiosity as much as understanding.
Jon’s love of art and technology found endless expression in his two-story studio and library, a sanctuary and workshop for every kind of creative experiment. He spent much of his early retirement there, constantly making and refining projects that blurred the line between craft and art. In later years, his creative focus shifted to his computer and iPad, where he continued to write, design, and explore digital media with the same precision and curiosity that defined his life. His home overflowed with books, music, and films—and family fondly dubbed his habit of turning simple projects into complex, overcomplicated, beautiful ones “PIPAfication.”
Jon was predeceased by his wife, Iris Bodin Newsom; and his parents, Ewart and Julia Winslow Newsom. He is survived by his brother, Robert Newsom (Linda); stepchildren, Lynn Myers (Dan), Ethan Bodin and Mark Bodin (Carrie); grandchildren, Frank and Maria Myers, and Eva, Charlotte, Dylan and Max Bodin; caregiver, Katrina Duffy; and a niece, nephew, and three grandnephews.
He will be remembered fondly by family, friends, neighbors, colleagues, and the many students whose lives he brightened with his generosity, insight, and joyful tendency to make everything — and everyone — a little better than he found them.
Donations in memory of Jon and Iris can be made to the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, ud.alumniq.com/giving/to/OLLIMemorial, or Village Volunteers, villagevolunteer.org.
