Jerry Russo

is Theresa's husband, and father to Alex, Max and Justin. Having possessed magic powers as a child, until his brother became the family wizard. 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. Unlike his children, he does not have powers. It is known that he wanted to be a bull rider for his backup plan. Nonetheless, his children inherited their powers from him. Jerry lives on Waverly Place, a street in downtown Manhattan with his mortal wife Theresa Russo and his children: Alex, Justin, and Max. In a few episodes, he has been known to call his wife, Theresa, old.

Jerry is proud of his magical ancestry and teaches his children about 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. Jerry also has three nephews born to his younger brother Kelbo, Trevor who is 17, Graeme who is 14, and Kim who is 12.

In the episode Alex in the Middle, it was revealed that Jerry was actually the one who won the competition for family wizard. Theresa said that he beat Kelbo, but since wizards can't marry non-wizards, he gave his powers to Kelbo so he could marry Theresa. 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 good, for he wound up to marry that girl, Theresa Larkin.

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 gets into trouble as well.