Thomas Johnson
April 20, 1940–July 6, 2026

It is with tremendous sadness that we announce the death of our father, Thomas Johnson, of Hopewell, NJ. Born and raised in Lakewood, NJ, Thomas (Tommy) Johnson was the eldest son of Muriel and John Johnson.

Tom’s early days were spent tinkering and driving the family’s many Model A Fords through the woods and around the back roads with his brothers and sister and a whole mess of other kids piled in the back. Days were spent building shacks in the woods, catching critters, building model airplanes and trains, working the produce department at the Acme supermarket for two bucks a day, and generally having, as he puts it in his 10th grade autobiography, “A family life that has been most enjoyable because we do things together and help one another at different jobs. By working together, we built a nice home and own a beautiful section of property overlooking a brook. We also have fun together doing the more enjoyable things in life as well as working together. With my friends I have also had much fun, such as building our cabin and going to camp together. My hobbies have helped me in life also, and I get much enjoyment from them. Keeping busy at hobbies, leading a good healthy outdoor life and a pleasant home atmosphere have all contributed towards the first stage of my life.”

Tom was a creator from an early age; his talent led him to an education in the field of art and design. His first home away from home was the Newark, NJ YMCA, while attending The Newark School of Fine and Industrial Arts in 1958. He was also beginning to get serious with his fourth-grade sweetheart, Ann Collson, who was pursuing her nursing degree in upstate NY. They were married in 1962 in Tunkhannock, PA. Shortly after their vows were exchanged they moved to California where Tom continued his education at The Art Center School of Design in Los Angeles.

It was there that his love of cars and design caught the eye of the Ford Motor Company. He was offered an opportunity with Ford and he and Ann moved to Detroit where Tom designed tail lights and glove boxes and wore pencil suits with a lot of other guys that looked just like him. This is also where they started their family. Daughter Tamber was born in 1964 followed by Tosca in 1966.

Tom was busy, Ann was busy, and life was happening. The pull of wanting to be near family brought them back to NJ in 1967. They settled in the small town of Hopewell and took up residence “on the hill” behind the Castle on North Greenwood Avenue. They lived in the most spacious apartment and had plenty of room to welcome their third child, Terence, in 1969.

It was in Hopewell that Tom partnered with Paul Witti and they opened their design firm, Originetics. In that partnership Tom worked on so many things that have left a trademark on our lives, such as Ingersoll Rand’s 3 blue stripes and the Helvetica fonts on every Johnson & Johnson package from that time period. He and Paul designed the first tools and artificial joints with a group of doctors that pioneered that tech. After that partnership ended, his work in the tennis business began. Although Tom was never a sports guy, he embraced the reimagining of the old wood racquets and was one of the first to design aluminum, graphite, and oversized racquets for Head and then Prince.

It was during this period that Tom and Ann bought their first and final home on West Broad Street in Hopewell.

Eventually the travel and corporate climate came to an end. Always a master craftsman, with his son Terence he embarked on the next chapter and started T Johnson Design in 1994. For the next 32 years Tom and Terence worked together, with Tom working his last day the week before he passed. Its first home was in the barn at the family home on Broad Street. As the company grew, they moved into the garage on Railroad Place and eventually bought the old school house on Model Avenue where it continues today.

Tom and Terence built an impressive body of work. Their first job was the weather vane at the Gazebo in Hopewell Park. Tom was one of the few who could actually build a weather vane that worked. From furniture, gates, railings, staircases, and weather vanes to pizza trucks, Tom could draw a straight line without a ruler and no one was better at spraying a finish on. He was a master. He leaves behind an amazing array of work, a long life beautifully lived doing what he loved.

Tom was also known for having quite the green thumb and the biggest trees on Broad Street. There are dozens of holly trees in the yard, the largest pine tree in town, and a huge variety of transplanted ferns and forest flowers, as Tom never went anywhere without his bucket and spade in the back of the trunk. He transplanted an abundance over the years, and his backyard was one of his favorite places to hang out and enjoy the birds, the bunnies, and more recently the deer and an occasional bear.

Tom was preceded in death by the love of his life Ann, who passed in January of 2025. Their relationship was one for the ages. They had such an easy way of being with one another — the respect and admiration they had for each other was so obvious and joyous that people who encountered them just naturally became friends with this remarkable couple and remained friends for years. Their home was always open and their table always full.

In the last year of his life he spent a fabulous time in Costa Rica with his daughter Tamber and her family, enjoying his great-grand babies and all of the wonderful new wildlife and sights and sounds.

Tom is survived by his daughter Tamber and her husband Steve, their daughter Julia and husband Yordi, their children Eva and Nico. His daughter Tosca, her husband Scott, their children Sadie, Anna, and Calvin and his son Terence, his wife Sandy, and Terence’s daughter Campbell.

His brother Robin Johnson and his wife Dianne. His sister Julie Aberger and his sister-in-law Colleen Johnson. His nephews Chuck, Johann, Joshua, Jeremiah, James, and his nieces Kate and Helen. He also leaves behind Shirley Ressler and her kids Heather and Jason, who were a special part of his extended family.

He was preceded in death by the love of his life Ann, his younger brother Jack Johnson, and brother-in-law Peter Aberger.

He also leaves behind his lifelong friends from throughout his life. There are too many to name individually, but if you were a friend of Tom’s you were in the company of many others who just absolutely loved that guy! He was a quiet man with a renowned sense of humor and an incredibly quick wit. He loved to read The New Yorker and John McPhee. He loved hanging out with his family and watching his grandkids turn into amazing adults. He loved Jersey sweet corn and tomatoes. He loved sitting in his backyard with a half-and-half vermouth on the rocks in his hand and watching the birds land in his beloved trees. He liked old country music and rockabilly. He liked jazz and the blues. He liked traveling on trains and planes and he loved going to the races at Limerock. He loved going to his cabin in the Poconos and walking to the view. He loved life and we are all better off having known him for as long as we did.

There are voices
of the past,
Links of a broken chain,
Wings that bear me
back to times
Which cannot come again;
Yet heaven forbid
that I should lose
The echoes that remain!

—Adelaide Anne Procter

———

Denis A. Granarolo

Denis A. Granarolo, 68, of West Windsor died on July 11, 2026 at Capital Health Hospital Hopewell. Born in Alger, Algeria, he immigrated to the United States in 1998.

Denis worked for many years as a master with Terra Momo Bakery, Princeton. Denis loved basketball and as a teenager was recruited for the French National Team. He was a loving gentleman.

Son of the late René and Jacqueline (Hermann) Granarolo, he is survived by his wife Christine (Cardon) Granarolo, a daughter Laure Granarolo, a son Nicholas Granarolo, and two brothers Michel Granarolo and Jacques Granarolo.

Arrangements are private under the direction of the Mather-Hodge Funeral Home, Princeton.

———

Mary Roess Pickens

Mary Roess Pickens passed away peacefully on the morning of Friday, July 10, 2026, surrounded by her family in Chautauqua, New York, just a few steps away from the lake she loved.

Mary Elizabeth Roess was born in Oil City, Pennsylvania, on June 4, 1942, the fourth of five children born to Elizabeth Shortt Roess and Gustav Frederick Roess. As a child, Mary and her siblings Gus, Martha, Charles, and Christine lived between Winter Park, FL, and Chautauqua, NY. After graduating from Winter Park High, Mary began her college career at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, transferring her junior year after studying in Mexico City and finishing her degree at Baldwin Wallace College in the spring
of 1964.

Shortly thereafter, Mary went to work at the Department of Public Health at Yale University, where she met her husband Robert “Bob” Pickens, who was attending medical school there. Mary and Bob were married on the Yale campus on May 30, 1965, and after short stints living in Riverdale, NY, Park Ridge, NJ, and Norfolk, VA, Mary and Bob settled in Princeton in 1973 where they raised three children, Jennifer, Sara, and Matthew.

Mary would call Princeton home for the rest of her life, over the years becoming a valued member of the community: an avid tennis player, a member of various faith communities including Westerly Road Church and the Jewish Center of Princeton, a member of the Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle (CLSC), and an active volunteer for various causes. Mary and Bob volunteered as co-chairs of the Chautauqua Annual Fund from 2008-2009. Mary also served for many years distributing the Town Topics Christmas Fund to those in need, acting as a board member at Corner House and the Princeton YMCA, and participating in the Princeton interim homes program through which Mary and Bob housed multiple vulnerable teens. In April 2014, Mary received the Marie Matthews award at Corner House for service to the community, and the mayor of Princeton designated April 11, 2014, as “Mary Pickens Day.”

Mary loved her time with treasured friends and family whether in Princeton, Chautauqua, North Carolina, Winter Park, or beyond. She had a passion for exploring the world with Bob through travel and always remembered fondly their long honeymoon in Europe, skiing and sailing trips, the Chautauqua exchange in St. Petersburg, Russia, and Tbilisi, Georgia, and time in Bangkok, Thailand, where their son Matt had lived as a Princeton-in-Asia fellow.

Those who knew Mary called her “elegant,” “fun-loving,” “caring” — and to spend time with Mary was to feel energized and joyful (and often included enjoying an ice cream sundae, a Mary Jane candy, or a slice of fruit pie).

Mary is survived by her beloved husband, Bob; her sister, Christine; her three children, Jennifer, Matthew, and Sara; her two sons-in-law, Justin and Tim; her daughter-in-law, Rebecca; and grandchildren, Charlie and his wife Emilia, Tom, Isabel, Lila, Julia, Will, Charlotte, Henry, Olivia, Liam, and Gavin; and devoted caretakers and friends, Betty, Sara, and Nettie.

In lieu of flowers, donations in Mary’s honor to “The Mary R. Pickens Music Scholarship Fund” at the Chautauqua Foundation are appreciated. A memorial service will be held on September 19, 2026 at 11 a.m. at the Nassau Presbyterian Church in Princeton.