In the waning days of 2024, we received word that Asheville native and veteran Mountain Xpress columnist Jerry Sternberg had died the night of Dec. 25.
A one-of-a-kind local figure, it seems fitting that the 94-year-old would take his leave on an unusual occasion — when the first night of Hanukkah coincided with Christmas, an event that’s happened only a handful of times since 1900.
It also seems fitting to remember — in his own words — the man who started writing “The Gospel According to Jerry” for this newspaper three decades ago. Whether he was giving local officials an earful or spinning yarns about his life and Asheville back in the day, you could count on Sternberg to deliver his message with signature flair and a healthy dose of humor.
In the beginning
In the very first issue of Xpress, on Aug. 10, 1994, Sternberg introduced himself to readers: “My Walter Mitty dream — to write a column expressing my absolute, indisputable opinions about matters pertaining to both local and national politics and life in general — may have come true.
“The editor of this paper is going to permit me to submit these commentaries, and hopefully I will be so popular, irritating and thought-provoking that you, the readers, will encourage him to continue accepting my work. …”
“In matters of social issues and personal freedoms, I am a flaming liberal, but in matters of property rights, business rights and minimization of taxes and government spending, I would make Ebeneezer Scrooge look like a philanthropist.”
By his second column, published a week later, Sternberg declared his allegiance to a group that appeared to be highly skeptical of rethinking the industrial use of the French Broad River (as well as the nonprofit RiverLink, headed by Karen Cragnolin, destined to become a good friend). “Several years ago, I became involved with a loose-knit group of businessmen whose businesses were located on the French Broad River,” wrote Sternberg. “We soon became known as ‘The River Rats.’ Believe me, ‘we don’t get no respect.’ …
“Those who oppose us ‘River Rats’ are known as ‘Riverlinks.’ Doesn’t that sound like some kind of yuppie sausage made from catfish?”
Staking his position

By 2014, much had changed along the river, but the two friends kept sparring. Cragnolin penned a piece about the success of the French Broad River’s revitalization — and wrote that Sternberg had once told her the “urban riverfront was just like Humpty Dumpty and couldn’t be fixed!”
Sternberg responded via the “Gospel,” calling Cragnolin “the brilliant visionary and advocate who can proudly take credit for the unbelievable renaissance in the River District,” denying he used the Humpty Dumpty metaphor and explaining his position and that of other riverfront property owners.
“Karen paints me as the only naysayer in RiverLink’s drive to redevelop the river zone,” he wrote. “Nothing could be further from the truth. As a longtime investor and developer of many river properties, along with the many other property owners and businesspeople along the riverfront, it was in our best interest to see the area improve and prosper.
“The problem was that the RiverLink movement, primarily spearheaded by elitist outsiders with no financial skin in the game, decided they were going to dictate to those of us who owned property and worked hard to feed our families just what we could do with our property. They started with something they called a ‘charrette’ where people wallowed on the floor and drew pictures and plans overlaid on our property with Ferris wheels, boat landings, parks, bike paths, etc. They received copious television and newspaper press and, frankly, scared hell out of all of the river property owners.”
Tales to tell
You might say Sternberg came by his views about the river honestly.
“My dad used to take me to work with him when I was no more than 5 years old,” Sternberg wrote in a 2005 “Gospel.” “He had a small business in an old, dirty, rickety building at the corner of Depot and Lyman streets at the railroad crossing.
“He dealt primarily in cowhides and furs and scrap metal. When he bought fur pelts such as muskrats, minks and foxes from the trappers, they were turned inside out and stretched onto wooden boards to allow them to dry out from the skinning process. My first job was to help with removing the furs from the boards, tying them in bundles so that they could be shipped to the fur manufacturers.
“I am not sure whether the purpose of my employment was to take advantage of the economic rewards of child labor or to keep me out of my house so that I would not torment and harass my 3-year-old sister.”
Other notable stories included a 2020 remembrance of the attack on Pearl Harbor (which happened on his 11th birthday) and his own journey “from bigotry to advocacy” as he put it in a 2021 column in recognizing the disparity between the experiences of the white and Black communities in Asheville.
‘Life in Seely’s Castle’

Some of Sternberg’s best-read commentaries (of the 121 posted and tagged on Xpress’ website since 2000) centered around his purchase and restoration of a castle built by Fred Seely, son-in-law of E.W. Grove (who built the Grove Park Inn), along with rollicking tales of Buncombe County’s nightclubs.
“Everybody dreams of being king for a day, but I became a king for several years,” wrote Sternberg in the first installment of that series in May 2012. “Not really, though I did get to live in a real castle, which was certainly a very special life experience.”
“High above Asheville, right off Town Mountain Road, sits an imposing stone castle offering spectacular panoramic views. The 20,000-square-foot structure has no real architectural peer in our area. Sure, it’s smaller than Biltmore House and entirely different in style, but as we used to say, we were No. 2, so we had to try harder.”
Other highlights in his “Life in Seely’s Castle” series included the tale of how he came to purchase it, the challenges of heating it and one of its most famous visitors, Israel’s Gen. Yitzhak Rabin, who was accompanied by Mossad (the Israeli secret service) agents.
One of Sternberg’s most popular columns, from 2016, looked at “Vanished Asheville Nightclubs,” including Margaret’s Steakhouse.
“In a small house on the edge of town, up on the Weaverville Highway, there was a place called Margaret’s Steakhouse that operated from the 1940s until sometime in the ’70s,” wrote Sternberg. “Margaret and her husband, Fleming, had converted their living room and dining room into an unbelievable little restaurant/club complete with a jukebox. …
“If you were a regular, you could also get a cocktail from the back room. The most exciting beverage sold there was Flem’s Cherry Bounce, made from pure corn whiskey and some combination of cherries. Oh, it went down so smooth, but the bounce came when you tried to walk down the steps on the way out.”
‘A Jew in Asheville’
Sternberg launched his last series for Xpress, “A Jew in Asheville” in April 2023, recounting his own experiences of growing up Jewish in the city — including the prejudice he faced — along with the antisemitism the Jewish community endured.
The most-viewed of the dozen pieces in the series was “No Admittance” published in October 2023, which explored the discriminatory practices of local country clubs.
In “Passing the Torch” last June, he concluded the series on a cautiously hopeful note: “As I have pointed out, Asheville’s Jews have made great strides in gaining acceptance in both the social and political arenas. Yet we now, once again, find ourselves the target of increased antisemitism coming from both the extreme left and extreme right ends of the political spectrum. That only underscores how critically important it is for the local Jewish community to continue its tradition of leadership in supporting local charities and working for the benefit of all area residents. However, we must also actively participate in local and state politics and be prepared to stand up and defend our rights as good and productive members of this great community.”
We last heard from Sternberg in early October, when he expressed sadness over Tropical Storm Helene’s destruction and mentioned plans for a future column. Though that was not to be, we believe his hometown will remember him with as much fondness as he felt for Asheville.
— Tracy Rose, Xpress Opinion editor
Mr. Sternberg was an Asheville treasure. Was there an obituary?
Jerry taught me a lot about this city when we breakfasted a couple of times each year, usually at The Med. he contributed insight in my investigations of Billy Graham and Bobby Medford and offered a sardonic view of downtown development. One of his multiple businesses had been demolition and as we left The Med one morning he gestured at the parking garage catty-corner at Lexington and College, then being torn down for construction of a new hotel. “I remember,” he said, “when we tore down the old hotel so they could build that parking deck!”
Oops. Skipping a beat there. The tear down for the new hotel was a block up at the intersection of Broadway and College.