Jerry Russo

Jerry Russo's History

Jerry Russo is Theresa's husband, and father to Justin, Alex and Max. Born a wizard and having possessed magic powers as a child, he won the family wizard competition, but gave them to his brother, Kelbo Russo, in order to marry Theresa, a mortal. Jerry instructs his children in the proper practices to be used when conducting magic. He owns the Waverly Sub Station and runs the restaurant with his wife.

Jerry Russo is the average father. He is stern, protective, and is constantly annoyed by his children. Although he does not have powers, his children inherited their powers from him. It is known that he wanted to be a bull rider for his backup plan. Jerry and his family live on Waverly Place, a street in downtown Manhattan, above their restaurant. In a few episodes, he has been known to call Theresa old.

Jerry is proud of his magical ancestry and teaches his children about new spells and the proper uses of magic in "Wizards Training Class" on Tuesdays and Thursdays. However, his children often disobey his magic rules, and he has to punish them.

In the episode Alex in the Middle, it was revealed that Jerry was actually the one who won the competition for the family wizard. He defeated both Kelbo and their sister Megan, but since wizards can't marry non-wizards, he gave his powers to Kelbo so he could marry Theresa. Megan is mad at him for giving his powers to Kelbo and not her, but he explains that it's because Kelbo needed them more than her; he added that while they would be fine without magic, Kelbo could not survive without powers. Jerry had also said that he had once used magic to try to impress a girl, such as in Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie, but it "didn't end up well", for he wound up marrying her.

In First Kiss, Jerry had stated that the spell, McReary Time Reary was a life-saver for him when he was young, probably hinting that he often got into trouble as well.

Jerry's parents were mentioned in the Episode Hugh's Not Normous as Rose and Duke Russo. In Rock Around the Clock, his father's name was changed to Hank.