Jeffrey Haig Bossart

Jeffrey Haig Bossart died on September 2, 2020 at age 67. Jeff was one of the kindest, most thoughtful, caring, smart, hard-working, and above all selfless men most people have ever known. He is survived by his three daughters (Caitie Bossart, Kristie Mass, and Callie Bossart), son-in-law (Darren Mass), and three grand-daughters (Lucine, Eloise, and Coraline Mass). He is also survived by his brother, David Bossart and family.

Jeffrey was born in Jersey City to Florence and Theodore Bossart. He and his brother, David, were raised in Chatham, New Jersey. Jeff went on to receive his Bachelor of Science from the American University in Washington, D.C., graduating cum laude. He received his Juris Doctor from the University of San Diego School of Law and his license to practice law in the State of New Jersey in 1983.

On January 15, 1983, he married his wife, Paula Jo Haider, who he met in San Diego while attending law school and working at Allstate Insurance. They were colleagues both working in the Claims department.

Jeff and Paula moved to Chester, New Jersey, and had their first and second daughters in 1985 and 1986. In 1989, they moved to Mission Viejo, CA, and had their third daughter, Callie. In 1993, they moved to Basking Ridge, New Jersey, where they stayed for the next 20 years.

Throughout these years, Jeff, Paula, and their family went on many family trips throughout the US, Europe, the Caribbean, and countless trips to Disneyland and Disney World. Jeff was an amazing provider and caretaker for his family. He always attended his children’s sports games and swimming competitions, and he never missed an opportunity to spend quality time with his girls.

Once Jeff and Paula were “empty nesters” they enjoyed many travels together, and loved going on cruises (the Baltic Sea cruise and Alaskan cruise were some of their favorites) and traveling around different parts of Europe.

Professionally, Jeff managed many specialty claims organizations throughout his career. This included numerous claim executive roles, his most recent being EVP and Chief Claims Officer for Aspen Insurance Group, which he retired from in December 2015. His subordinates, friends, and colleagues in the professional world would describe him as wise, generous, and passionate, and having an ability to listen without judgment and give them support, even beyond work-related topics.

In the bittersweet year of 2014, Jeff lost Paula to colon cancer after 31 years of marriage. Three months later, he became known as “Papa” when his first grandchildren, twins Lucine and Eloise, were born to his daughter Kristie and her husband, Darren. As Papa, he was fun-loving, supportive, and a regular part of Lucine and Eloise’s lives.

In his retirement, Jeff spent his time remodeling houses, going on bike rides and hikes, attending church, keeping his brain sharp by enrolling in classes at Princeton University, and spending time with his children and grandchildren. Jeff had many interests in self-discovery, growth, health, art, astronomy, and theater. He loved to walk around the center of town in Princeton, where he resided, and spent a lot of time along the trails and in the parks.

Jeff’s family never hesitated to tell him how much he meant to them and how much he was loved. He was, and always will be, a meaningful and important person in their lives. There are countless memories of him that his family will hold onto forever.

Jeff will be missed significantly, yet his family finds comfort knowing he and Paula will now be together eternally.

Services are being handled by Gallaway & Crane Funeral Home, 101 South Finley Avenue, Basking Ridge, NJ. For service information or to leave an online condolence for the family please visit their website at www.gcfuneralhome.com.

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Ellen (Helen) M. Long

Ellen (Helen) “Bunnie” Mathilda Long died peacefully on September 1, 2020. Her daughter Eileen was with her. A resident of Princeton, NJ, since 1953, she was an active member of St Paul’s Parish, Princeton, NJ, and retired from Princeton University Firestone Library in 1995.

The fourth of five siblings, Helen was born in Fairtown, Co. Cavan, Ireland. In the 1920s her parents met and married in Brooklyn, NY, where two of Helen’s older siblings were born before the family returned to Ireland and bought a small farm. Shortly after she was born they all returned to the USA to live in Brooklyn. The Great Depression changed those plans yet again and they all went back to Ireland in 1936 where Helen spent a contented childhood. In 1953 she set sail for New York on the SS Mauritania from Cobh, Co. Cork, and as she writes in her memoir, “…to face the world on my own.”

After a short stay with her Aunt Helen in NY she took a job in Princeton, NJ, and eventually met Patrick J. Long. They married in 1956 settling in Princeton where they both worked, raised three children and proudly took advantage of all the opportunities of their USA citizenship. Helen’s children have the most wonderful memories growing up with their happy parents.

Helen was an enthusiastic volunteer both in St Paul’s ministries and at the Princeton Senior Resource Center. She shared a love of music, art, travel, and the simple pleasures of the world outdoors with everyone. Helen had a special approach to the aesthetics of everything around her. She trained, apprenticed, and was employed as a professional seamstress early in her working life. That expertise, talent, and her love of design meant she always planned and often made everything exactly to her own specifications. Her pretty gardens and generous hospitality welcomed visitors from everywhere. Her travel adventures took her around the US, to the Holy Land, Italy, France, Bahamas, through the Panama Canal and many times back to Ireland.

Predeceased by her husband Patrick J. Long and her son Michael P. Long, her brothers Nicholas Smith and Thomas Smith, and sister Kathleen Smith, Helen is survived by her son Brian J. Long of Princeton, NJ, daughter, M. Eileen Long and son-in-law, Tarik R. Shahbender both of Princeton, NJ; her sister, Margaret Paul of Lawrenceville, NJ; stepsisters Helen Cordner of Brewster, MA, and Mary Ellen Benedetto of Ventura, CA; and many cousins, nieces, nephews, and friends locally and around the world.

There will be a Mass of Christian Burial on September 10, 2020 at 10 a.m. at St. Paul’s Roman Catholic Church, 214 Nassau Street, Princeton, NJ. Mass will also be viewable starting at 9:50 a.m. at www.stpaulsofprinceton.org. Burial will follow the mass at Princeton Cemetery on Greenview Avenue, Princeton, NJ. A memorial for Helen will be planned at a later date when it is safer for friends and family to gather as we wish.

Donations in memory of Helen are welcome for the Princeton Senior Resource Center at princetonsenior.org or to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital at stjude.org.

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

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Maurice D. Lee, Jr.

Maurice D. Lee, Jr., age 94, a longtime resident of Cranbury, New Jersey, died on July 12, 2020, as a result of a fall. Born in 1925 in Buffalo, New York, he was educated at the Hotchkiss School and Princeton University, from which he received his doctorate in 1950 after service in the Navy at the end of WW II.

A distinguished historian of 16th and 17th century British/Scottish history, he spent his life as a college professor, teaching generations of undergraduates and graduate students, first at Princeton University from 1950-59, then at the University of Illinois until 1966, and finally at the Douglass College Department of History at Rutgers University. He eventually chaired the History Department at Douglass, and in 1987 he was appointed the Margaret A. Judson Professor of History in honor of his distinguished predecessor at the College in the Tudor/Stuart field. A prolific writer, he wrote ten books, primarily focused on the Stuart period of British/Scottish history. For his lifetime of work in Scottish history, he was awarded an honorary doctorate in 1994 from the University of St. Andrews in Scotland. Although he officially retired from Douglass in 1996, he continued to teach at the College, and publish, for many years thereafter.

Maurice was deeply engaged with his friendships, politics, theatre, current events; he always had a book on hand. In the arts, his first love was opera, a lifelong passion. He was still attending Saturday matinee productions at the Metropolitan Opera in New York until the pandemic brought the curtain down on live performances in the spring of this year.

His wife of over 50 years, Helen, died of Alzheimer’s in 1999. He is survived by two children, Maurice D. Lee, III and L. Blair Lee, five grandchildren, three great-grandchildren, and his partner of many years, Laurine Purola. Because of Covid, a memorial has not yet been scheduled. As a strong supporter of women’s education, contributions may be made to the Institute for Women’s Leadership at Rutgers University.

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Kelly Procaccino

Kelly Procaccino, of Princeton, died Monday, August 31, 2020 at Penn Medicine Princeton Medical Center, Plainsboro. Born in Princeton, NJ, she was a lifelong resident and attended Princeton High School. Kelly was employed by the State of New Jersey for 34 years, most recently as a Human Resource Specialist with the Division of Developmental Disabilities.

She was a member of St. Paul’s Church.She was a wonderful, kind, and loving person who cared about everyone she came in contact with. She especially loved celebrating Halloween and Christmas, going to the beach, and red Twizzlers.

Her late father, Ralph Procaccino, was a sergeant on the Princeton Borough Police Force. Her late mother, Marion (née Gibbons) Procaccino, was an operating room nurse at Princeton Medical Center. She met her husband, Thomas A. Clark, in 1978. Together for 42 years, they were married at La Piedad Church in Isla Verde, Puerto Rico, on January 21, 1995. She is survived by her husband, Thomas A. Clark; daughter Haley M. Clark; sisters Michele Lanahan and Rebecca Israel; nieces Ashley Israel, Alexis Stemler, Emily Clark, and Grace Clark; and nephews Christopher Lanahan, Andrew Bilgrav, and Thomas Bilgrav.

A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at 10 a.m. on Friday, September 11, 2020 at St. Paul’s Church (216 Nassau Street, Princeton).

Due to the COVID19 pandemic, everyone must wear a mask and social distance.

A memorial celebration will be held at a later date.