Who is Jack Jerome from Brighton Beach Memoirs and what is their importance?

Jack Jerome is the family patriarch. He works two jobs to support everyone in the household, and he looks older than his forty years. Constantly tired, Jack still makes time to guide both Nora and Stanley through their tough decisions. Between the action depicted in the acts, Jack has a heart attack and is confined to his bed. Though he finds someone to cover for him at work for several weeks, Jack still worries about taking care of everyone. This becomes especially important when relatives who have escaped from Poland write of their imminent arrival in America.