11/20/2025
With shock and sadness, Wing Chun Do and the Ambrose Academy family have lost a valuable friend and supporter of WCD. Sifu Jeff Maletz passed away a few days ago.
Jeff came to our school when he was 17 years old. Alone and living in an empty house, he had to find his own way in the world. When he ran out of tuition money, we decided to adopt him in a way. Since that fateful day, Jeff has been with me and Ambrose Academy for over 30 years.
He helped us anyway he could. He joined the instructors program, became my first blackbelt, Sijo was there to congratulate him on one of his visits.
He brought that beautiful bundle of joy, Hailey into our lives. He became a single dad doing the best he could with the resources he had.
He used to tie Hailey's baby carrier to the climbing rope in the school when he taught or trained. She grew up in our school. Every mom sitting in our parent gallery would watch and fawn over her. Our WCD community looked after her. Plenty of excellent babysitters for him to choose from. Our son, David, grew to think of Hailey as his little cousin. Our thoughts, prayers and love are with her today.
He was always a positive force in our school, welcoming, fun, and as a trainer filled classes with fun and humor. He became a WCD brother to so many students and their friendships endured.
When he became a Sifu, we had a ceremony and threw a pot-luck party. His mom, mentioned how happy and surprised she was to see her son treated with such admiration and respect by so many people, seeing him with fresh eyes. The pride she felt was well deserved.
As the years passed, we moved to a new location. Our school kept growing. A synergetic and wonderful community of parents, students, mentors, and teachers was created. It was a great atmosphere to be in, a place where our families and students found a home away from home. We held holiday get togethers, pot-lucks, celebrations and when Sijo DeMile came, we celebrate even more. We truly became a family.
When the pandemic hit, it hit our school hard. After they allowed "contact sports" to reopen in the state, we had to start from scratch again. We were training in our parking lot over that spring and summer. In the fall, Jeff decided this was the perfect time for him to move on and create his own space and school. His leaving hit us hard too, but we knew that this day had to come eventually. After several years of teaching, he finally had his own brick and mortar school poised to make it a success.
I wish I could convey the long journey we have come together in pictures, but so many are before the digital age. A photograph captures a moment, but a memory holds the whole story. We hope these pictures help you remember a life much larger than these frames can hold.
RIP Jeff.