John Paul Gerber (February 12, 1945 – June 12, 2010) was an American

author An author is the writer of a book, article, play, mostly written work. A broader definition of the word "author" states: "''An author is "the person who originated or gave existence to anything" and whose authorship determines responsibility f ...

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the stu ...

librarian A librarian is a person who works professionally in a library providing access to information, and sometimes social or technical programming, or instruction on information literacy to users. The role of the librarian has changed much over time, ...

, and sportsperson.

Personal life

Gerber was born in

Sioux Falls Sioux Falls () is the most populous city in the U.S. state of South Dakota and the 130th-most populous city in the United States. It is the county seat of Minnehaha County and also extends into Lincoln County to the south, which continues up t ...

South Dakota South Dakota (; Sioux language, Sioux: , ) is a U.S. state in the West North Central states, North Central region of the United States. It is also part of the Great Plains. South Dakota is named after the Lakota people, Lakota and Dakota peo ...

, the eldest of 5 children born to John and Millie Gerber. As a youth his family moved to in Stillwater,

Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...

then during his teens in Menomonie,

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

. Gerber earned a B.A. in history from the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Tw ...

, a PhD in history from the

University of Wisconsin A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...

, and an

MLS Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada ...

from

Simmons College Institutions of learning called Simmons College or Simmons University include: * Simmons University, a women's liberal arts college in Boston, Massachusetts * Simmons College of Kentucky, a historically black college in Louisville, Kentucky * Har ...

. He spent much of his professional career as an archivist at

Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (Harvard Law or HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest continuously operating law school in the United States. Each class ...

and a medical librarian for the Boston Healthcare System.

Scootering

Gerber had a passion for European

motorscooters A scooter (motor scooter) is a motorcycle with an underbone or step-through frame, a seat, and a platform for the rider's feet, emphasizing comfort and fuel economy in automobiles, fuel economy. Elements of scooter design were present in some ...

, such as

Vespa Vespa () is an Italian luxury brand of scooter (motorcycle), scooters and mopeds manufactured by Piaggio. The name means wasp in Italian. The Vespa has evolved from a single model motor scooter manufactured in 1946 by Piaggio & Co. S.p.A. of ...

Lambretta Lambretta () is the brand name of mainly motor scooters, initially manufactured in Milan, Italy, by Innocenti. The name is derived from the word Lambrate, the suburb of Milan named after the river Lambro which flows through the area, and wher ...

, and Heinkels, owning dozens of various scooters, putting over 412,000 miles riding his bikes on 5 continents, and according to the ''

Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe'' is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes, and has a total circulation of close to 300,000 print and digital subscribers. ''The Boston Glob ...

'' was "the world's foremost historian on the development, manufacture and spread of motor scooters as a practical means of everyday and leisure transportation." Gerber rode his first bike at age 14 and by 21 he had ridden almost 40,000 miles traveling around the US and Canada. In 1966 he embarked on the first of his epic rides going from Minnesota to Panama and back on a Vespa GS 160. In 1971, he completed a solo trip on his Vespa motor scooter from

down the east coast of

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...

to the

Tierra del Fuego Tierra del Fuego (, ; Spanish for "Land of the Fire", rarely also Fireland in English) is an archipelago off the southernmost tip of the South American mainland, across the Strait of Magellan. The archipelago consists of the main island, Isla G ...

. He returned up the west coast and was on his way to Alaska when the trip was cut short by a car totaling his scooter in Hayward,

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

. In the late 1970s Gerber shipped a Vespa Rally from

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

so he could ride the bike back the to London.

Death

Gerber died on June 10, 2010 in

Quincy, Massachusetts Quincy ( ) is a coastal U.S. city in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. It is the largest city in the county and a part of Greater Boston, Metropolitan Boston as one of Boston's immediate southern suburbs. Its population in 2020 was 1 ...

, aged 65, from

pancreatic cancer Pancreatic cancer arises when cell (biology), cells in the pancreas, a glandular organ behind the stomach, begin to multiply out of control and form a Neoplasm, mass. These cancerous cells have the malignant, ability to invade other parts of t ...

Books

* John Paul Gerber.
Pannekoek and the socialism of workers' self-emancipation, 1873-1960
', Springer, New York, 1989. 250 pages * John Paul Gerber.
Militants against the apparatus: the Communist opposition in France, 1923-1932
', University of Wisconsin, Madison 1973. 412 pages

Articles

* ''An American Story'' by John Gerber
Veteran Vespa Club Journal
Winter 2004/5 * ''Weird and Wonderful No. 1: The AMI'' by John Gerber
Veteran Vespa Club Journal
Autumn 2006 * ''Weird and Wonderful No. 2: The Harley Davidson Brezza'' by John Gerber
Veteran Vespa Club Journal
Winter 2006/7 * ''Weird and Wonderful: The NSU Maxima'' by John Gerber
Veteran Vespa Club Journal
Spring 2007 * ''Weird and Wonderful: The Csepel Tunde'' by John Gerber
Veteran Vespa Club Journal
Summer 2007 * ''

Larry Hagman Larry Martin Hagman (September 21, 1931 – November 23, 2012) was an American film and television actor, director, and producer, best known for playing ruthless oil baron J. R. Ewing in the 1978–1991 primetime television soap opera, ''Dal ...

: Greenwich Village Bohemian and Vespa enthusiast'' by John Gerber
Veteran Vespa Club Journal
Summer 2009 * ''Weird and Wonderful: The Swiss Army Vespa'' by John Gerber
Veteran Vespa Club Journal
Autumn 2009 * ''The sorry tale of the demise of the Hoffmann Vespa'' by John Gerber
Veteran Vespa Club Journal
Winter 2010/11 * ''Hans Stuck and Vespa'' by John Gerber
Veteran Vespa Club Journal
Spring 2011

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gerber, John Long-distance motorcycle riders People from Sioux Falls, South Dakota Writers from Boston University of Minnesota College of Liberal Arts alumni University of Wisconsin–Madison College of Letters and Science alumni 1945 births 2010 deaths People from Stillwater, Oklahoma People from Menomonie, Wisconsin Deaths from pancreatic cancer Deaths from cancer in Massachusetts