SOUTH LAGUNA, Calif. – Jerome B. Wiss, chairman of the board of Wiss Sons, Inc., jewelers, and board chairman and executive vice president of J. Wiss and Sons Co., cutlery manufacturers, both in Newark, N.J., died here in his home Saturday of leukemia. He was 64.

Mr. Wiss joined the firms shortly after his return from military service in 1919. The concerns were founded by Mr. Wiss' grandfather, Jacob Wiss, in 1848.

Mr. Wiss served as president of Wiss Sons from 1922 to 1955, when he became chairman of the board. He had been in semi-retirement since moving here six years ago. He was former president of the Wiss Realty Corp.

Long active in Newark's civic affairs, Mr. Wiss was president of he Broad Street Assn. from 1936 until 1941 and a director of the association for 10 years previously. He served for a while in 1933 as volunteer deputy director in the Newark office of the State Emergency Relief Administration, in charge of personnel. In 1936 he was named to Newark's first Industrial Commission. In 1940 he supported the Newark Citizens Union in its proposal for a city manager government.

Mr. Wiss was also a former chairman of the Retail Trade Council, The Essex Board of Freeholders in 1940 named him to the County Highway Right-of-Way Commission.

Mr. Wiss enjoyed a brief political career when he was elected State Assemblyman from Essex County in 1941. The following March he was commissioned captain in the Army and called up for active duty.

Mr. Wiss was a graduate of the Newark Academy and Princeton University, where he was captain of the wrestling team ad inter-collegiate gymnastic champion. He left the university in May, 1917, to enlist in the Army Air Force. He served with the rank of lieutenant as a flying instructor in France and Italy. During World War II he served for 2 1/2 years as a captain in the intelligence branch of the Fifth Bomber Command in New Guinea.

Lectured on Gems

Mr Wiss' chief hobby stemmed from his business. He was a certified gemologist and registered jeweler with the American Gem Society. He possessed all but four of the known variety of gems in the world as well as colored diamonds and frequently lectured on precious stones.

Born in Newark, Mr. Wiss lived in South Orange from 1920 to 1930. He lived in Orange for the following 20 years and in Springfield for two years until he moved here.

Mr. Wiss was the son of the late Louis T. and Fanny Baker Wiss

While living in New Jersey Mr. Wiss was a member of the Orange Lawn Tennis Club, South Orange, Essex County Country Club, West Orange, the Baltusrol Country Club, Springfield, the Essex Club, the Down Town Club and the Newark Athletic Club, all in Newark.

He leaves his wife, Mrs. Margaret Mullen Wiss, five daughters, Mrs. Nancy Drury of Bedminster, N.J., Mrs. Cornelia Degerberg of Philadelphia, Mrs. Jeremy Smith of Newton Square, Pa., Mrs. Grace Gomez of Belvedere, Calif., and Miss Jean Wiss of Trenton, N.J. a sister, Mrs. Margarethe Sinon of Maplewood, and 15 grandchildren.

The funeral will be Thursday in the Colonial Home, 132 S. Harrison St., East Orange at 3 p.m.