Michael J. Mahoney

Michael John Mahoney, 77, of Princeton, passed away peacefully surrounded by family on Friday, March 16, 2012 at Plymouth Place, La Grange, Ill.

Son of the late John Edward Mahoney and Catherine (Cunningham) Mahoney, he was born in Brooklyn, NY and was a full time resident of Princeton for over 40 years.

Mike graduated in 1956 from St. John’s University of New York, with a BS in mathematics. He served in the Marine Corps from 1956 to 1958. A fellow of the Society of Actuaries since 1969, he was employed at Metropolitan Life for 20 years. In 1978, Mike joined Milliman & Robertson, one of the world’s largest independent actuarial and consulting firms, where he headed the New York Pension and Employee Benefits consulting practice. Becoming a principal in the firm in 1980, he was instrumental in establishing the practice across the east coast into major cities including Chicago, Hartford, Philadelphia, and Atlanta. Mike worked closely with clients including Food Workers Union and AT&T, and served as long-time chair for M&R’s Public Relations Committee, retiring from M&R in 2000.

Mike was an active member of the St. Paul’s parish community in Princeton for 40 years, where he served as frequent usher, lector and Eucharistic minister. He was a committed supporter of his alma maters, Bishop Loughlin Memorial High School, Brooklyn, and St. John’s University, from which he received an honorary Doctorate of Commercial Science in 2001 in recognition of his professional achievements and long-standing philanthropy. A frequent visitor to his beloved New York City, Mike and his departed wife Patricia also supported the New York City Philharmonic and the Metropolitan Opera, and ardently followed New York City teams including the Yankees, the Giants, and St. John’s basketball. Awarded track and field scholarships, Mike continued running right up until his final years and although he gamely applied himself to golf, camaraderie was the real reason for his longtime membership in Springdale Golf Club.

Mike genuinely treasured his time with family and friends. A devoted husband, Mike celebrated his 50th wedding anniversary in August 2010 with his wife, Patricia Anne Mahoney, who died in January 2011. Brother of the late Brian Mahoney, he is survived by his sister, Sheila Brown of Lexington, Mass.; sister and brother-in-law Maureen and Brigadier General John Brickley, U.S.M.C. (Ret.) of Tampa, Fla.; sister-in-law Anne Marie Mahoney of Belmont, Mass.; dear cousins Cathleen and Francis Fahey; and three daughters and two sons-in-law, Eileen Mahoney, Catherine Mahoney, and Garrett Kiely, and Nancy Mahoney and Ian van Coller. Mike was a beloved “Grandpa” to five grandchildren, Thomas, Julia, and Daniel Kiely; and Aidan and Kaylie van Coller. He will also be missed by numerous nieces, nephews, and cousins.

The wake took place on Friday, March 23 from 2 to 4 p.m. and from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Mather-Hodge Funeral Home. The Funeral Mass was held at 9:30 a.m. on Saturday, March 24, 2012, at St. Paul’s Church, 214 Nassau Street, Princeton. Burial followed in Greenwood Cemetery, Hamilton.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital Fund at www.stjude.org.

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Eva Karacsony

Eva Karacsony, 88, passed away Tuesday, March 20, 2012 at the Clark Nursing and Rehabilitation Center. Born in Austria, she lived in Princeton for 40 years before moving to the Atria in Cranford in 2000.

Mrs. Karacsony was employed as the Concierge at the Nassau Inn in Princeton before retiring.

She is survived by her sons, Nicholas and Attila (and his wife, Debra); six granddaughters, Lara, Alexandra, Kristy, Melissa, Danielle, and Amanda; and seven great-grandchildren. She was predeceased by her daughter, Eva Collins, who died in 1990.

Private arrangements are by Memorial Funeral Home in Fanwood. For additional information or to sign the guestbook, visit www.fan
woodmemorial.com.

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Elaine V. Solomon

On Friday, March 23, 2012, Elaine Solomon, age 82, died at her home at Stonebridge.

Born on August 15, 1929 to Abraham and Dora Vogel, she lived in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn, New York, until her marriage in 1948 to Robert Solomon, who she met in 1946. They were happily married for 64 years.

She was an honors student in high school, a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Brooklyn College where she majored in English, and earned a graduate degree from Rutgers University. She taught English in the Princeton schools for many years. Thereafter, starting a second career at Response Analysis Corporation of Princeton as a proofreader, she advanced to the position of vice president.

Known for her intelligence, her beauty, and her devotion to her family, she is survived by her husband, her three sons and their wives, and six grandchildren. She took particular delight in long walks (especially, in her early years, on the boardwalk at Coney Island, and later in Princeton and on Nantucket), reading, movies, chocolate, coffee, and the NY Times Sunday crossword (completed in ink), Loehmann’s, museums and shopping in N.Y.C., travels with her husband, and being with her grandchildren. Her kind will not come this way again for many years. Good night sweet princess.

A memorial service will be held at 2 p.m. on Thursday, March 29, 2012 at the Star of David Memorial Chapel, 40 Vandeventer Avenue, Princeton.

A Service of Remembrance will be held at 3:30 p.m. on Saturday, March 31, 2012 at Stonebridge at Montgomery, 100 Hollinshead Spring Road, Skillman.

In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made in Elaine’s memory to the Princeton Healthcare System Foundation, 3626 US Route 1, Princeton, N.J. 08540, or by calling (609) 497-4190.

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LeRoy E. Warren III

LeRoy Ellis Warren III, 79, of Princeton, passed away on Tuesday, March 20, 2012 at the University Medical Center at Princeton. He was a graduate of both Princeton High School and the Hun School.

LeRoy was honorably discharged from the U.S. Air Force where he served in the Philippines and at the Finland Air Force Station (NORAD), near Duluth, Minn. After the Air Force, he received degrees in geology and earth science from the University of Minnesota, Duluth and then received his MA degree at the University of Missouri, Columbia.

Mr. Warren had a 35-year career, where he used his geological experience in serving North East Minnesota in education, industry, and government. He taught geology at the University of Minnesota, Duluth, into the 1970’s. In the last 16 years of his career, he was the supervisor of the exploration section for the Non-Ferrous Minerals Division of the Minnesota Division of Natural Resources, in Hibbing, Minn., where he worked on the preliminary studies, which became the basis for the current mining activities in Northeast Minnesota. He also worked for Reserve Mining Company, Humble Mineral Resources, Inc., and served as the chief geologist for Hallett Minerals Co. and was a consultant for EME Inc., both of Duluth.

In 1965 he married Marie K. Stueland, in Duluth and also became a caring step-father to her son, Carl. They kept a close relationship throughout the years after Marie’s death, even when Lee moved back to his hometown of Princeton.

Lee was preceded in death by his wife, Marie; parents Ira S. Sr. and Emily Warren; and brother Ira. He is survived by his step-son Carl and family; two brothers: Benjamin and his wife Kate of Princeton, and Edward of Marietta, Ga.; sister-in-law Rosemary of Princeton; his special nephew, Steve Warren; as well as other nieces and nephews.

A memorial service was held Monday, March 26, 2012 with burial following in the family plot at Princeton Cemetery.

Donations, by check or money order, may be made in his memory to COPD Foundation, 2937 SW 27th Avenue, Suite 302, Miami, Fla. 33133.

Extend condolences at TheKimbleFuneral.com.

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Elisabeth C. R. Graham

Elisabeth (BettyAnn) Childs Rowse Graham, educational program planner and curriculum designer, died December 28, 2011 in Chapel Hill, N.C., where she had lived since her 1986 second marriage to George Adams Graham, former professor of politics at Princeton University. She was 88.

Born in Montpelier, Vt. to Harwood L. and Willa (Whitson) Childs, BettyAnn spent most of her childhood in Princeton, where her father was a professor of politics at Princeton University and the founder of the Public Opinion Quarterly. Early employment included jobs at Princeton University’s Office of Public Opinion Research, the United Nations in New York, the Library of Congress, State Department, and Kiplinger Magazine in Washington D.C.

Mrs. Graham volunteered extensively in schools, educational organizations, and with the League of Women Voters in Massachusetts and Washington, D.C. She co-founded the Acton, Mass. League.

Her volunteer work began in the Boston area in the late 1940s and continued through the 1950s, when she participated in the Great Decisions Program of the Foreign Policy Association and in 1952, co-founded the Technical Education and Assistance Mission (TEAM), designed to help underdeveloped countries. She lived in Groton, Acton, and Concord, Massachusetts.

In 1960, Mrs. Graham moved to Washington D.C. with her husband, journalist and author Arthur E. Rowse III (whom she married in 1947 in Princeton University Chapel) where she was active until 1974 working to improve the District of Columbia Public School system. From 1960-70 she volunteered with the D.C. Congress of Parents and Teachers and the John Eaton Elementary School PTA, at one point serving as president in 1968-69 when parent Walter Mondale was the PTA Vice President.

She was eager to see children supported in a creative classroom environment which offered “freedom … to talk, to question, to be spontaneous, responsible and inventive in solving real as well as academic problems… to carry out ideas without criticism and restrictions, which can destroy self-respect and initiative.”

Mrs. Graham became an Honorary Life Member of the D.C. Congress of Parents and Teachers for her many volunteer roles, such as helping to create libraries in elementary schools that had none, advocating for free, hot, nutritious lunches for children and working to develop an Urban Design course and a curriculum on Due Process.

Always a thinker and innovator, in 1966-67 she helped develop a six-week apolitical course on the history and culture of China for D.C. public schools because she wanted students to “appreciate and respect ways of life other than their own. Such respect is the prime ingredient of peace.” The Washington Post reported: “The course is unusual in two respects: It is the first attempt to give D.C. public school students a more-than-cursory background in Chinese history and culture, and it is the only course in any subject … designed by interested parents rather than by a school system’s Curriculum Department.”

In 1968 Mrs. Graham served as a staff consultant to the White House Task Force on Education of the Gifted, sponsored by the US Office of Education. She also was involved in the D.C. Urban Service Corps.

Her writings include The Creative Atmosphere (1968), The Language of Due Process (1970) and various unpublished papers on creativity, ability grouping, testing and representation.

She believed in teaching the Constitution to elementary school students. In 1969 she founded the Educational Rights Council, a public interest volunteer lobbying group that promoted children’s educational rights through curriculum development. She sought to help students increase confidence in themselves and in their ability to exercise control and power over their destinies.

Barbara Meade, former owner of the Washington, D.C. bookstore Politics and Prose, said of Mrs. Graham: “She led a valuable life that contributed immeasurably to our planet and served as a role model for many, including me. She was completely committed to social justice and a visionary for her time.”

In 1974 Mrs. Graham returned to Princeton, where she worked for the New Jersey Department of Education and the New Jersey Education Association, planning five “Good Ideas” conferences and workshops.

In 1986, she married George Adams Graham, a professor of politics and public administration whom she first met when he was a colleague of her father’s in the politics department at Princeton University in the early 1930s. Mr. Graham died in 2005 at the age of 100. Her previous 32-year marriage to Arthur E. Rowse, III ended in divorce in 1979.

Mrs. Graham received a BA in American history from Wellesley College in 1945 (she was class president from 1970-75) and took graduate courses in political science and history at Georgetown University (1945-47, 1972-73) and at Princeton University (1978-81).

Her Wellesley College classmate Elizabeth Crandall of Maplewood, New Jersey said of her: “BA and I struck up a close friendship over 70 years ago when we were thrust together as roommates our sophomore year in 1942. She was one of the most beautiful gals I ever saw. I think we both felt so fortunate to have met each other so early in our Wellesley lives. She was very organized, had great academic skills and a marvelous sense of humor. She was the nearest thing to a sister I’d ever come across. I’ll always remember her beauty, love of reading and music, her intense interest in history and politics, and how she wanted to change the world and did.”

Mrs. Graham is survived by seven children from her marriage to Arthur E. Rowse, III: Ruth Rowse of Geneseo, N.Y., Martha Kelder of Chapel Hill, N.C., Margaret Michaelson of North Hollywood, Calif., Mary Rowse of Washington, D.C., Robert Rowse of Falmouth, Maine, Carolee Rowse of Chevy Chase, Md., and Patricia Rowse of Washington, D.C.; six grandchildren; and two sisters, Margaret Childs Armstrong of Princeton, and Martha Childs Sproul of Mystic, Conn.

A burial service will be held in Princeton Cemetery on Friday, March 30, 2012 at 2 p.m. A reception will follow from 3-5:30 p.m. in the Wilson Room at The Nassau Club, 6 Mercer Street, Princeton.

Memorial contributions may be made to WCPE-FM Radio, Box 897, Wake Forest, N.C. 27588; or to Friends of Wilson Lake, PO Box 560, Wilton, Maine 04294.