Jerrold (Jerry) Nedwick (1895?-1966) was a Chicago bookseller who owned Nedwick’s Book Store. Not much is known about his early life, but he did serve in the army during World War I and passed through St. Augustine during that time. Nedwick also made at least one long journey doing a ‘hobo trip’ across America before returning to Chicago. He learned how to run a book store under the tutelage of Ben Abramson and opened his own store in the early 1920s. Both Nedwick’s residence and Nedwick’s Book Store changed often, with his last home on Prairie Avenue.

Rhoda Nedwick (nee Katz) was born in 1900 and passed away some time before Jerry. Despite a newspaper article which circulated after their wedding in 1925 stating she was from Australia, she was born in Illinois. She was confined to a sanitarium twice in her life for tuberculosis, once in the Winfield Sanatorium in Illinois (1924-1925), and again at the National Jewish Hospital at Denver in Colorado (1927-1928). She assisted Jerry in managing and running Nedwick’s book store, and also participated often in the B’nai B’rith International service organization.

Nedwick’s Book Store ran for over forty years, counting among its clientele locals, literature aficionados, and others in the industry such as Carl Sandburg. Jerry and Rhoda Nedwick often socialized at Chicago institutions such as the Sherman House and the Dill Pickle Club. Jerry’s possession of Petronius’ The Satyricon led to his arrest in 1930, which stirred outrage in the intellectual community but the case was dismissed by a judge. Upon Jerry’s death, the University of Louisville purchased his 60,000 volumes for their library collection.