Thomas C. Hazen

Thomas Coe Hazen, 60, of Oxford, Md., passed away peacefully late on Palm Sunday, April 13, 2014 at the Shore Health Hospital in Easton, Md. surrounded by family.

He was born on November 5, 1953 in Princeton, where he lived most of his life prior to moving to the Eastern Shore of Maryland. He attended Princeton Public Schools through middle school. He continued his education at The Choate School, Wallingford, Conn., class of 1972 and earned his BA from University of Pennsylvania, class of 1976.

He spent his career in retail, first with L. Bamberger & Company and later with R.H. Macy and Company, where he served as a merchandise buyer for a variety of departments. For most of his career he worked out of their flagship store at Harold Square in New York City.

Growing up he was fortunate enough to have the experience of traveling around the world, including living a year in India, spending a semester abroad in Lugano, Switzerland, and experiencing an African safari. He continued to enjoy traveling as part of his career; he traveled repeatedly to the Orient and Europe, his favorite designations being Italy and England.

Unfortunately his traveling and career were curtailed by a rare genetic degenerative decease that affected his lungs. In 2004 when his disability forced him to retire, he moved from Princeton to Oxford, Md. to a cottage on his parents’ property. In 2007 he received a bi-lateral lung transplant at Johns Hopkins Hospital. Though limited by his health, he continued to enjoy his interests, which included reading, music, the arts, boating, and most recently photography. He was a member of the Chesapeake Bay Yacht Club. In addition, he was member of The Church of the Holy Trinity, and at the time of his death, he was proud to be serving on the vestry and involved with the music program.

He is survived by his parents, Professor Emeritus David and Mary Ann Hazen of Oxford, Md.; his brother, George Hazen and his wife, Susan, of Annapolis, Md.; his sister Anne Brendel and her husband, Gary, of Murrysville, Pa.; two nieces; three nephews; a great-nephew and three great-nieces.

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to the Thomas C. Hazen ’72 Memorial Scholarship Fund, Choate Rosemary Hall, 333 Christian Street, Wallingford, Conn., 06492 or The Church of the Holy Trinity Church, P.O. Box 387, Oxford, Md. 21654. A memorial service celebrating his life is planned for later in the spring.

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Bernard J. Lechner

Bernard J. Lechner, one of the world’s leading experts on television and electronic displays, passed away on Friday, April 11, 2014, at the age of 82. Mr. Lechner’s contributions to the development of flat screen displays and HDTV standards continue to influence the direction and standards of televisions and other electronic displays. He earned his BSEE degree from Columbia University before beginning his 30 year tenure at RCA, where he retired as the staff vice president, Advanced Video Systems, RCA Laboratories.

A pioneer in his industry, Mr. Lechner received numerous rewards for his significant contributions to the world of technology, including being the first recipient of the Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC) Outstanding Contributor Award in 2000, now an annual award named in his honor. Most recently, in August 2011, the IEEE presented Mr. Lechner with the Jun-ichi Nishizawa Medal, to honor his early work on LCD (liquid-crystal display) technology for television pictures, which set the stage for the proliferation of today’s flat screen televisions, monitors, and mobile phones. He was a Life Fellow of the IEEE, the Society for Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE), and the Society for Information Display (SID), of which he was a founding member.

Mr. Lechner was a beloved son, husband, brother, and uncle. He was born to Barnard J. Lechner and the former Lillian V. Stevens on January 25, 1932 in New York, N.Y. He is survived by his wife of 60 years, Joan M. Lechner, of Newtown, Pa.; and his sister, Patricia A. Nahas, of Austin, Tex, and their families. He will be remembered not only for his technical brilliance, but also for his patient mentoring of numerous engineers, his love for, and support of the arts, his enjoyment of square dancing and poker, and his broadcaster’s voice, which will long be missed on ham radios everywhere. He was a long-time resident of Princeton. A service in celebration of his life will be held at Trinity Episcopal Church in Princeton on May 3, 2014 at noon. In lieu of flowers, the family requests a memorial donation to your favorite charity in honor of Mr. Lechner.

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Toby Goodyear

Toby Goodyear passed away on Sunday, April 6, 2014 with her children by her side, after a long battle with cancer. She was 80 years old.

Born January 9, 1934, in Buffalo, N.Y., Toby was the second of two children born to Louise and Lawrence Grady. Toby adored her parents and her older sister, Joy, and remained close to Joy for her whole life.

She attended the Park School of Buffalo and Smith College, graduating from Smith with honors in 1955, majoring in political science. She wrote her honors thesis on Robert Oppenheimer and the Manhattan Project.

Toby spent college summers as a mother’s helper to Katharine and Philip Graham, taking special charge of Donald and Stephen Graham, who were small children at the time. The Grahams generously included her in their family and social events, nourishing her lifelong interest in politics and current events. She was an unabashed liberal Democrat who would engage anyone, anytime in a political debate.

After graduating from college, Toby set out on the first of many adventures. With a teaching job at her beloved Park School in the pipeline, she secured a loan to pay for ship’s passage to India, where she studied Gandhi and stayed at an ashram. From 1959 to 1964, she lived in Singapore and Karachi with her husband, who at her urging requested overseas assignments at First National City Bank of New York (now Citibank). During those years, while teaching at the American Schools in each of those cities, she traveled widely. She once took off with a female friend in a Volkswagen Bug over the Khyber Pass to Afghanistan. The car broke down in the remote high mountains. Through a combination of good luck and smart maneuvering, she hitched a ride to Kabul on an open transport truck, found a German mechanic, and got the car repaired for a safe return to Karachi.

Toby married Laurence “Rummy” Goodyear, Jr. of Buffalo in January 1958. After their years overseas, they settled on a small farm outside of Princeton. Their daughter, Lauren, was born in 1964 and their son, Laurence “Jake” in 1966.

Toby’s children were the world to her. During those first years of motherhood, she happily busied herself with caring for them while sewing, cooking, gardening, and tending to her Irish Setters and two horses. Apprenticed in the domestic arts by her mother, she was a marvelous cook and made an especially delicious curry. Her children, grandchildren, and many friends benefitted from her industrious and skillful knitting. It wouldn’t be possible to count the sweet baby sweaters and elaborate Christmas stockings knit by her hands. Toby fed the family and the whole neighborhood with her vegetables, and she maintained flower gardens well into her seventies, studying to become a master gardener in her later years.

Shortly after her divorce in 1969, Toby threw herself into the working world, first as a real estate agent for K. M. Light, and later as a manager for Johnson & Johnson’s revolutionary employee wellness program, Live for Life™, the brainchild of another Princetonian, James Burke.

Music was a focus for Toby’s passion all through her life. She met her long-time companion, Gerald Neary, while singing in the “Private Parts,” an a cappella singing group in Princeton. Her subscription to the Metropolitan Opera was one of the great pleasures of her later years. She traveled to China, Russia, England, and Cuba with the Yale Alumni Glee Club.

Since the early 1990’s, Toby has been a central figure in the Princeton music world. Serving as executive director of the choral group Princeton Pro Musica, the Princeton Symphony, and the Princeton Singers, she served as a trustee of all three organizations and was on the Boards of Trustees for both the Princeton Symphony and the Princeton Singers at the time of her death. The current Director of the Princeton Symphony, Melanie Clarke, writes of Toby’s tenure as executive director: “She was a tremendously creative, enterprising, and productive leader who, virtually single-handedly, took care of every aspect of managing the orchestra. Possessed of a sharp mind, a prodigious work ethic, and a strong sense of purpose, she was equally at home closing the deal for underwriting from corporate CEO’s, foundation leaders and philanthropists as she was taking care of every detail involved in a performance or fundraising event …. The orchestra thrived under her attentions and care.”

On learning of her diagnosis of stage-four colon cancer 11 years ago, she was characteristically determined and stubborn. To the very end, she did not consider herself a dying person and had no interest in hospice care or hospital stays. Two days before she died, she physically walked into the doctor’s office to tell him she had shortness of breath. She lived to experience the births of all six of her grandchildren, and it was her greatest joy to know them as they grew into young people.

Toby’s companion of 35 years, Gerald “Jerry” Neary, predeceased her in 2005. She is survived by her daughter, Lauren Goodyear Schramm, of Washington, D.C.; her son, Jake Goodyear, of New Canaan, Conn.; her sister, Joy Simpkins, of Pound Ridge, N.Y.; and six grandchildren: Jake, Luke, and Rosie Schramm, and Lorny, Peter, and Edie Goodyear.

A memorial celebration will be held at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday, May 3, 2014 at the Princeton University Chapel with a reception afterwards at the Nassau Club. In lieu of flowers, donations may be sent in her memory to: The Princeton Symphony Orchestra, the Princeton Singers, or the Park School of Buffalo, N.Y.

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