Landon Y. (“Lanny”) Jones, Jr.
(Photo by Craig Moore)
Landon Y. (“Lanny”) Jones, Jr., writer, editor, and beloved family member and citizen of the Princeton community, died on Saturday, August 17. He will be missed by all who knew his lively and generous spirit.
Born in Rome, Georgia, in 1943, raised in St. Louis, and a longtime resident of Princeton, Lanny spent his adult life on the East Coast, with an eye on the American West. He was known for his boundless energy, his unfailing generosity, and his insatiable appetite for meeting new and interesting people, while maintaining innumerable friendships and deep family connections.
Lanny reached the pinnacle of his editorial career during the heyday of magazine journalism in the 1980s and ’90s. From 1984-89, he was the Managing Editor (the highest editorial position at Time Inc.) of Money magazine. Under his direction, the financial monthly won three consecutive National Magazine Awards, including General Excellence.
From 1989-97, Lanny was the Managing Editor of People magazine, the most successful magazine in publishing history. While at People, he directed the launch of three new magazines: Who Weekly (1992), In Style (1994), and People en Español (1996). In 2015, he was awarded the Time Inc. Lifetime Achievement Award.
Throughout his life, Lanny served as a mentor and champion for countless writers and journalists. He taught courses in nonfiction writing at Princeton University (1995), Northwestern University (2006), and Montana State University (2008). He served in formal and informal advisory roles for the Princeton Alumni Weekly, the Daily Princetonian, and the Princeton University English Department.
Lanny’s first nonfiction work, Great Expectations: America and the Baby Boom Generation (Putman, 1980), introduced the world to the term “baby boomer,” and was the first close examination of the Baby Boom generation as a cultural phenomenon. It was nominated for the American Book Award in Nonfiction.
A college summer spent on a ranch in Ennis, Montana, proved fateful. Lanny was inspired by the American West and returned throughout his life. He spent more than 20 summers with his wife Sarah at their second home in Bozeman, Montana, where they welcomed family members and countless friends. He also cherished many family vacations at the A-Bar-A Ranch in Encampment, Wyoming. Lanny merged his personal interest in the West with his professional life when he wrote a 2016 cover story in the New York Times Sunday Travel section about Vladimir Nabokov’s travels in the West, which won the New York Press Club Award as the Best Travel Article of the Year. He published two books relating to Meriwether Lewis and William Clark: William Clark and the Shaping of the West (Hill and Wang, 2004), and The Essential Lewis and Clark (Ecco/HarperCollins, 2000).
In his final published book, Celebrity Nation: How America Evolved Into a Culture of Fans and Followers (Beacon Press, 2023), Lanny explored the celebrity culture that he played a role in developing during his time at People. He recounted his interviews with, among others, Malcolm X, Princess Diana, Elizabeth Taylor, President Bill Clinton, President George H.W. Bush, Bill Gates, and singers Bobby Short and Arlo Guthrie.
As a child in St. Louis, Lanny suffered significant hearing loss following a mumps infection. He learned to read lips at the Central Institute for the Deaf. With that skill, Lanny appeared to consider the problem solved, rarely complaining and still managing to be the life of any bustling party.
He attended Saint Louis Country Day School, where he played soccer and football, ran track, and served as Student Council President. He came east to Princeton University, graduating magna cum laude in 1966. At Princeton, he was active with the Daily Princetonian, wrote the “On the Campus” column for Princeton Alumni Weekly, and was a member of Colonial Club. He edited the Princeton Alumni Weekly from 1969-1974 and wrote for Time and People before joining Money in 1984. In 1967 he was a member of a special Life magazine investigation of the assassination of President Kennedy that received the Sigma Delta Chi Award for Public Service.
Living in Princeton, Lanny was a consummate connector of people. Everybody knew Lanny and Lanny knew everybody – distinguished professors and academics at the University and Institute for Advanced Study, businesspersons, members of the arts and letters community, and staff at local establishments he frequented. Lanny was a prolific member of the Old Guard, for which he arranged and introduced over 100 speakers and received an Exemplary Service Award for his efforts.
At the time of his death, Lanny was serving on the board of The Rita Allen Foundation. He previously served on the boards of The Alzheimer’s Association, American Rivers, and Princeton Alumni Corps.
Lanny was a cheerleader for his family and friends to the end. He worked extraordinarily hard during his career with Time Inc., but always prioritized his family, including by coaching the soccer teams of his children. He dove headlong into family life following his retirement at age 57. He was a steadfast supporter of his children, gifted at eliciting a laugh from his grandchildren, and always eager to share tales of their latest adventures. With his diagnosis of myelofibrosis and subsequent ordeal of his bone marrow transplant, Lanny became increasingly aware of the fleeting nature of his time with his family. He never once finished a holiday toast with a dry eye. And he was forever grateful for the gift of extended life provided by his medical team at Memorial Sloan Kettering and other institutions.
Lanny is survived by his wife of 54 years, Sarah Brown Jones; their three children, Rebecca J. Urciuoli, Landon Y. Jones III, and Catherine (“Cassie”) M. Jones; their respective spouses, Christian J.A. Urciuoli, Beth Nell Vaccaro, and Mark C. Wethli; six grandchildren: Jane Urciuoli, Nina Urciuoli, Luke Jones, Adam Jones, Wren Wethli, and Reed Wethli; and brothers Charles E. (Carol Ann) Jones and Byron W. (Julie Morrison) Jones.
Services and Contributions: The family will update this page when arrangements for a fall memorial service have been finalized. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to the Princeton Public Library, the Institute for Advanced Study, and Princeton University for the benefit of the Princeton University Library.
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Georgette Ferrante
Georgette Davis Ferrante “Gette” passed away peacefully on August 2, 2024, surrounded by her children.
Born in January 1933 in New York City to Philip and Beverly Davis, she grew up in Greenwich, CT. As the only girl in her family, including nearby cousins, she was doted on and beloved by them all. Then tragedy struck her family with the death of her older brother to leukemia when she was just 14, and right after WWII when the world was reeling from so many deaths and senseless destruction. Perhaps this was why she became a peacemaker with a lifelong conviction that war and conflict were idiotic and mostly perpetrated by men.
Avant-garde as her parents were, she called them by name, “Mig” and “Phil.” Her mother was of southern roots in a large fun-loving family. Her father was one of two close but competitive brothers. Gette made a mental note early on that lots of children were better than few.
She was an equestrian, an avid reader, and a wonderful student. She went to Abbot Academy in Andover, MA, and college at Bryn Mawr where she made lifelong friends, one with whom she spent her junior year in Florence. She then left school to marry Giovanni Ferrante di Ruffano, with whom she moved to Pampa, TX ,and Dugway, UT, before settling in Kingston, NJ. They quickly had seven children in nine years, an achievement of which she was very proud and always said she wanted more. She was the center of a supportive, welcoming home for all of her children’s friends, and the house was always full. She had a way of making everyone feel special and relevant. Several of those Princeton friends attended her 90th birthday celebration last year in CT.
Following her divorce in 1978, she had regretted not finishing college, and so completed her degree at Rutgers with highest honors. She was fluent in three languages. She was a lifelong feminist and an example to all of cheerful, critical thinking and quiet skepticism.
Conversation with her was always easy and delightful, enhanced by her willingness to engage on any topic and her amazing memory and knowledge of current and past events in the world and in her family. She seemed to have up to the minute information on the doings of each of her 19 grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren when their own parents had difficulty keeping them straight. She was an adroit record keeper and meticulously documented her family history through scrapbooking and video recordings that our family will cherish forever. In that same vein, despite near blindness, she hand wrote 600 pages of her reflections titled “Stuff I Think About,” to pass on to future generations.
Her final years were happily spent at Waveny Inn in New Canaan, CT, where she established and led the current events discussion group, and participated in a book group, writing group, a French discussion and poetry group, and was appointed to greet new and prospective residents. She is already missed by all who knew and loved her.
In addition to her grandchildren and great-grandchildren, she is survived by her children: Giaff (Alison), Cam (Liz McGrath), Gray (Dee Harris), Francesca Segalas, Catherine Tapsall (Mark Loehr), Virginia Ferrante-Iqbal (Manzar Iqbal), and Philip (Pamela), residing in Hingham, Albuquerque, Princeton, New Canaan, Old Greenwich, Nashville, and Scottsdale.
Burial will be in her mother’s family plot in Yazoo City, MS. There will be a celebration of her life for family and friends on a date to be announced. If you would like to honor Gette’s memory, please consider a donation to NPR and voting!
in time of daffodils(who know
the goal of living is to grow)
forgetting why,remember how
in time of lilacs who proclaim
the aim of waking is to dream, remember so(forgetting seem)
in time of roses(who amaze
our now and here with paradise)
forgetting if,remember yes
in time of all sweet things beyond
whatever mind may comprehend,
remember seek(forgetting find)
and in a mystery to be
(when time from time shall set us free)
forgetting me,remember me
—ee cummings
For online condolences please visit hoytfuneralhome.com.
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Jacqueline “Jackie” Wadsworth
Jacqueline N. Wadsworth, 88, of Princeton passed away on Wednesday, August 14, 2024.
She was born in Milltown, NJ, and settled in Princeton with her husband Ray where she lived for over 65 years. She spent most of her summers after the school year at their shore house in South Seaside Park. She was the Director of Nurses for Princeton Regional Schools for 40 years, where she became known as “Nurse Jackie” by everyone at Princeton High School.
Jacqueline was a devout Catholic and parishioner at St. Paul’s Church where she always lent a helping hand for every event at the church. When she was not at church, she loved coordinating trips for her and her friends in the getaway club. Jacqueline’s love for traveling stemmed from chaperoning the annual PHS Choir Club international choir trips.
Predeceased by her parents Sylvester and Elizabeth (Leonowicz) Nebus and her husband Raymond R. Wadsworth. She is survived by her son and daughter-in-law R. Keith and Elizabeth Wadsworth; grandson Keith and wife Melissa along with their son Jamie Raymond: grandsons Jesse and Andrew; daughter Kathleen Wadsworth; and granddaughters Samantha and Morgan.
Visitation was held on Tuesday, August 20, 2024 at The Mather-Hodge Funeral Home, 40 Vandeventer Avenue, Princeton, NJ 08542. Funeral will begin at 9 a.m. at the funeral home on Wednesday, August 21, 2024. Mass of Christian burial will be celebrated at 10 a.m. at St. Paul’s Church, 216 Nassau Street, Princeton, NJ 08542. Burial will follow in Princeton Cemetery.
In lieu of flowers memorial donations may be made to St. Paul’s Church (for the Prayer Garden).
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Rhoda Rosenzweig Lewis
November 9, 1942 – August 8, 2024
Rhoda Rosenzweig Lewis, of Princeton, NJ, died on August 8, 2024 of esophageal adenocarcinoma. She was 81.
Rhoda was born in Philadelphia to Max and Phyllis Rosenzweig, graduated from Akiba Hebrew Academy in 1959, and subsequently attended the University of Pennsylvania. She spent two years of study (and one year of being a ballroom dance instructor) at Penn before marrying her husband and moving to Yellow Springs, Ohio, where she completed her undergraduate degree in Art History at Antioch College. While in Yellow Springs, Rhoda was active in the civil rights movement, particularly in the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, worked as a psychology research assistant, lived on a farm with lots of feral cats, and gave birth to her son.
The family moved to Princeton, NJ in 1970, where Rhoda’s daughter was born. In the late 1970s, Rhoda returned to school and earned a master’s degree in special education from St. John’s University; her subsequent years teaching adjudicated children at the Skillman Training School for Boys were particularly indelible for her, and she was able to change a lot of lives for the better.
Rhoda’s house in the 1970s and 1980s was full of various children and adolescents who all thought she was the beautiful mom they could trust most, the sounds of WBAI on the radio, discussions about social justice, and the smells of her wonderful cooking. At age 50, after her son and daughter had graduated from college, Rhoda put her shoulders back, dove into a new chapter, and in 1997 earned a Juris Doctor with distinction from Rutgers University Law School.
After a year of clerkship, Rhoda began practicing as Deputy Public Defender for the state of New Jersey in the area of mental health advocacy law. She loved this work, was able to meaningfully change state law, and always gave herself fully to her vulnerable clients until her retirement in 2014.
Her marriage having ended in divorce, she enjoyed traveling, birding, and attending the ballet with her longtime companion Steve until his death in 2019. Rhoda was absolutely one of a kind — brilliant, insightful, observant, empathetic, loving, gorgeous, quirky, a little naughty, an excellent swimmer, a collector and wearer of things she thought beautiful, and a determined defender of people whom she knew needed her help.
She is survived by her son Benjamin, her daughter Felicia (Kermit), her beloved grandchildren Rana, Vivian, and Maron, her brothers Michael (Carole) and Arthur (Susan) Rosenzweig and Paul Seigel (Phillip), her cousins Barry, Trudy, and Hank, and many loving nieces, nephews, cousins, and friends.
Burial was private; a celebration of her life will occur in the Princeton area at a later date. Donations in her honor can be made to the American Civil Liberties Union or the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom. Extend condolences and share memories at TheKimbleFuneralHome.com.
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Andrew “Andy” Thurm
Andrew “Andy” Thurm, passed away at the age of 80 at Princeton Hospital after a very brief illness.
Andy was born in Manhattan in 1944 and always considered himself a New Yorker. His family moved to Scarsdale where Andy graduated from high school. He then graduated from Dartmouth College and came back to New York to earn an MBA from Columbia Business School.
He worked at Exxon in the aviation fuel division and then at McGraw Hill for Business Week Magazine.
He married Ann Thomson in 1969 and they lived on 57th Street while they worked and saved money to take a two-year trip around the world, working wherever they could find jobs.
Friends and family knew they were saving money but assured it was to buy a house in the suburbs and were surprised – not to say shocked – when they heard their plans.
Most of the places they stayed in were in the $1-2 range and many of them included all the bananas you could eat. Virtually none had running water.
Andy and Ann started the trip staying with Indians on the Amazon and then proceeded through South America.
They then spend many months in Africa on camping Safari trips and climbing Kilimanjaro.
They celebrated Christmas in Bethlehem and then spent the next year traveling and working in Asia.
In Africa they worked for a small market research company run by a husband and wife and Andy discovered that he preferred that environment to working for a large company.
When he returned to New York he opened his own company, Thurm Marketing and Consulting, which he ran until his retirement.
While he enjoyed marketing and having his own business, his first love was music. He had studied music from age 4 and was a very accomplished pianist.
Shortly after his retirement he saw an ad from Stuart Country Day School that was looking for an accompanist. He was thrilled to get the job and spent 10 very happy years in the classrooms, theater productions, and accompanying individual students.
He used his musical skills in churches as well including St. Matthew’s Church and Montgomery Ministries.
For Christmas he and Ann would host a Carol Party that people said they looked forward to all year.
Andy was very active in the Princeton Dartmouth Club. Andy was an excellent tennis player with a serve that was very hard to return.
He was a voracious reader and started a monthly men’s book group when he retired that is still going strong.
Andy was compassionate and caring. He was a generous donor to charitable causes, sponsored a child in need in developing countries for many years, and was always willing to help out friends and family in many ways. He will be greatly missed.
He was predeceased by his brother Allen Thurm and his cousin Tanya Roberts. He is survived by Ann his wife of 55 years and his daughter London Thomson-Thurm.
He will be missed by his extended family including nieces Shelley Hughes, Heidi Thomson, and Aileen Thurm, as well as cousins Kevin Thurm, Karen Thurm, Barbara Leary, Zachary Leary, Nany Salz, and Richard Mickey.
Visitation will be held at 2 p.m. on Saturday, October 19, 2024 with a memorial service at 3 p.m. at Blawenburg Reformed Church, 424 Route 518, Skillman, NJ 08558.
Arrangements are under the direction of Mather-Hodge Funeral Home, Princeton, NJ.
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Christa Weigmann
It’s been a year, and we miss you and think of you every day.
Last August 20, Christa Charlotte Weigmann passed away in her sleep at Stonebridge at Montgomery in Skillman, New Jersey, at the age of 89. A longtime resident of Princeton, New Jersey, Christa had been living at Stonebridge for five years.
Christa was born in Windhoek, Namibia, on July 8, 1934. Her parents, Herwarth and Else Schmidt von Schwind, had a sheep farm in Namibia (then called South West Africa), where they had relocated after leaving Germany in 1929. Christa grew up on the farm and developed a deep and abiding love for the landscape, the wildlife, and the people. She attended a German boarding school in Swakopmund and later in the capital, Windhoek, since there were no schools near where she lived. Her schooling was trilingual, and she always relished her knowledge of German, English, and Afrikaans.
Upon graduation she moved to Heidelberg, Germany, where she studied to be a translator. During a Fasching (German Carnival) party she met Dieter Weigmann, who she married in 1958.
In 1961 she traveled on an ocean liner across the Atlantic with her baby daughter Stefanie to live on the third continent in her life. She joined her husband in Princeton, New Jersey, where he was doing post-doctoral work. They decided to settle in America and moved to Kendall Park, New Jersey, where their second daughter, Jessica, was born in 1964. There she discovered her passion for education, starting as a preschool teacher. In 1973 the family moved back to Princeton, and she went back to school at Trenton State College where she earned her teaching degree. She would teach fourth grade at the Perry L. Drew Lewis School in East Windsor for 15 years. She was a passionate and energetic teacher, dedicated to opening her students’ minds to the wider world. She founded a school zoo, traveled to the Museum of Natural History weekly to further her training, and of course she brought her love of Africa into her classroom.
In 1975 she traveled with her family back to Namibia for the first time since she had left. She would go on to visit Namibia countless times and reconnect with the place and the people, even teaching school there for a year. Beyond Namibia, Christa and Dieter loved to travel and explored many places: China, Japan, Mongolia, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and Botswana, to name but a few. Eventually, they discovered a small town in West Texas called Marathon, where the light and the high desert landscape reminded Christa of her beloved Namibia. They eventually would live half the year in their Marathon adobe home and the other half in Princeton, where they would host their beloved grandchildren, Zeke, Oona, and Mai for summers and holidays, including the most joyous (and delicious) German Christmases.
She lived her life with passion and generosity, and we celebrate her memory today.
Arrangements were under the direction of Mather-Hodge Funeral Home, Princeton.
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Timothy Wade Miller
March 26, 1965 – June 27, 2024
Tim Miller passed away peacefully on June 27, 2024, surrounded by family in his happy place near the beach in Delaware.
Tim was known for his incredible talent in woodworking and construction, coaching girls’ softball, the gift of cooking, and his love for his family.
He fought a courageous battle with throat cancer, overcoming treatment that left him with incredible difficulties and poor quality of life, but he continued to persevere and still enjoyed time with friends and family and especially cooking for everyone.
Throughout his life Tim especially enjoyed music, watching the Food Network, building, mentoring young girls’ softball, and took great pride in his development of good sportsmanship. He loved being a father and was so proud of his daughters. He fought so hard to try to be there for every important moment in their lives.
Tim was predeceased by his parents Bob and Sherry Miller.
He is survived by his loving wife, Cindy; his daughters, Taylor Wagner (Brad) and Barrett Miller; his granddaughter, Emerson Wagner; his brother, Randy Miller (Zina) and their children, Tatiana and Tad.
Jeanne Dollar (Ed), JP Crosson (Stephanie) and their children, Ryan Dollar and Charlie Crosson, as well as many friends who will miss him dearly.
Tim did not want a service, but he would like to be remembered with a story, laughs, and a raised beer. For all who knew him this should make you smile!
He will always be in our hearts and never forgotten.
Please visit Tim’s Life Memorial at parsellfuneralhomes.com.
The first of many things I didn’t know about tenor saxophonist Stan Getz is that I was going to be writing about him today. In February 1954 when he was arrested for holding up a Seattle drugstore, I was shocked. I was 15, just getting into jazz, and I admired Getz for his moody, lyrical playing with guitarist Johnny Smith on “Moonlight in Vermont” and for his passionate solos with the Count Basie rhythm section and an all-star cast in Jam Session 3. Eventually I came to know him best for his work on Diz and Getz, with Dizzy Gillespie, a session that had been recorded in Los Angeles three months before his arrest.
