Arthur “Art” Fein
Longtime Princeton resident and retired physician Arthur “Art” Fein died on January 17, 2021 at age 89.
Art was born in Newark to Jan and Sophie Fein, a studio photographer and a colorist. Art attended Stuyvesant High School in NYC until his senior year, when he moved with his family to Miami Beach where he graduated from Miami Beach Senior High. He went on to graduate from the University of Florida, where he met his future wife, Harriet. He attended medical school at Wake Forest, where he graduated No. 1 in his class. He did his radiology residency at Johns Hopkins.
Art joined Princeton Radiology in 1963, and remained there for 41 years. Art chaired the department for 30 years (which grew from 4 to 40 physicians) and was president of Princeton Medical Center for two years. Physicians and staff alike commented that he was a great leader, a mentor, a friend, and an outstanding physician. Art loved being a physician and often said he never “worked” a day in his life.
Art absolutely cherished Harriet. Their lifelong love affair, mutual respect, and teamwork have served as a model for each of their children’s long and happy marriages. They nurtured and enjoyed close long-term friendships.
To all who knew him — friends, family, coworkers — he was the epitome of a “mensch” and was loved and respected, not just for his many accomplishments, but for his kindness, his ability to listen and lend a hand, and to connect with practically anyone. He had a zest for life, a wonderful sense of humor, and was a true adventurer. Art’s insatiable curiosity lead him to travel the world with Harriet, often to lesser explored destinations, always returning with spectacular photos and stories. Art was an eternal optimist whose ready smile and playful nature were incredibly endearing. He delighted when engaging with his family, especially during the summers when the family would gather in Emerald Isle, North Carolina. Art’s close extended family was very important to him, and he enjoyed all the gatherings over the years, especially Thanksgiving and Passover with the cousins.
Following retirement in 2004, Art’s thirst for knowledge led him to take a variety of interesting and challenging courses at Princeton. Art and Harriet were long time members of the Princeton Jewish Center. After spending 50 years at their home in Princeton, Art and Harriet moved to Windrows five years ago where many of their long-term friends resided.
Art leaves behind his wife of almost 69 years, Harriet; three children and their spouses: Rick and Jackie Fein (Mission Viejo, CA); Doug and Debbie Fein (Chapel Hill, NC); and Karen and Paul Kelly (Princeton). He was a loving and devoted grandfather to Jarrett, Micaela, and Naomi Fein and Skylar, Jillian, and Colton Kelly. Art also leaves behind his sister Ellen Shishko, nieces and nephews, many cousins and close friends.
In Art’s later years he often ended conversations with his children and grandchildren with one of his mantras, “Enjoy Life.” He recently said, “I lived the life I wanted. No regrets.”
He will be missed by all. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to one of Art’s favorite charities: Doctors without Borders, Feeding America, or the Sierra Club.
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Jean Ritchie Cooper
Jean R. Cooper, 91, formerly of Pennington, died December 14, 2020 at Pennswood Village, Newtown, PA.
Born in Chicago, IL, on November 28, 1929 (Thanksgiving Day) to the late Norman L. and J. Marie Ritchie, she spent her childhood and youth in Saratoga Springs, NY. She attended public schools and, to her Mother’s disappointment, turned down a full scholarship to Vassar College in favor of attending the University of Rochester, where she received a BS/RN degree. She met her future husband, Jack Cooper, while both were serving as counselors at Silver Bay Camp on Lake George, NY. They married in the summer of 1951 and settled in Schenectady, NY, where Jack was pastor of State Street Presbyterian Church, and, subsequently, the first General Presbyter of the Albany Presbytery. All four of their children were born in Schenectady.
In 1964, the family moved to New Jersey, for Jack to establish the Center for Continuing Education at Princeton Theological Seminary. Jean obtained the necessary certifications to become a school nurse, and in 1966 she began a 17-year career as a school nurse in the Montgomery Township Schools. She retired when Jack retired from the Seminary, and they were able to travel, to spend summers at their “Playhouse” in Vermont, and to visit with their beloved grandchildren. They moved to Pennswood Village in 2000, where they enjoyed a wide range of activities and the company of their many friends.
Predeceased by her husband of 57 years, Jack Cooper, and her brother, Donald G. Ritchie, Jean is survived by her four children: Dawn Rosso, Deborah Kruesi, John Cooper, and Ruth Sawin; her son-in-law, Mark Rosso and daughter-in-law Rhonda Cooper; and five grandchildren.
A memorial service and life celebration will be held at a future date. Memorial contributions may be made to the Alzheimer’s Association, www.alz.org.
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Teresa M. Choman
Teresa M. Choman, 85, died peacefully on January 18, 2021, at Princeton Hospital after a valiant fight against COVID-19. Born in Toronto, Canada, Teresa was raised in Pennsylvania, and her home town was Schuykill Haven, where her parents Nat and Pauline Burachock owned a florist shop. She was preceded in death by her husband, Bohdan “Dan” Choman, in 2012; they were married for 57 years, and had two sons and four grandchildren.
Terri, as she was called by family and friends, was an elementary school teacher for 20 years in Oradell, New Jersey, before moving to Princeton, where she was a substitute teacher for several more years. She also volunteered at Princeton Hospital for many years, helping staff and patients at the front desk and in the library.
Terri was quite active at her parish, St. Paul’s of Princeton, where she was a member of the Knitting Ministry and Rosary Club. She and her husband also
volunteered with the Loaves and Fishes Ministry. Terri loved to read books, and belonged to a book club with her good friends in the Princeton Walk neighborhood, where she lived since 1990. She also liked swimming with a group of friends called the Mermaids.
She is survived by her two sons, Nicholas and Thomas Choman; four grandchildren, Sarah, Christie, Matthew, and Nicholas Choman; her sister, Maryann Biemuller; and many nieces and nephews. They and many of her other relatives and friends will greatly miss her caring, giving, and beautiful spirit.
A funeral mass was held at St. Paul Parish in Princeton on Friday, January 22, 2021 followed by burial in Princeton Cemetery.
Please make a donation to the Alzheimer’s Association (act.alz.org) in her memory.
Extend condolences and share memories at TheKimbleFuneralHome.com.
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John Franklin Harper
June 14, 1932 – January 23, 2021
John Franklin Harper of Princeton, NJ, passed away on Saturday, January 23, 2021 at Penn Medicine – Princeton Medical Center, Plainsboro, NJ.
He was born June 14, 1932 in Newburgh, NY, and attended Kent School in Kent, CT. John married Katherine Johnson in 1953 when he was a senior at Princeton University. After graduating in 1954, having served in ROTC, the Army sent him to Ft. Sill, OK, and then on to Ft. Lewis, WA.
John and Katherine had four children, John F. Jr., Jay Meredith, Carolyn Elizabeth, and Katherine Clark.
John’s two post-Army jobs were at Philadelphia National Bank and Gulf Oil. In 1960, John was hired by Princeton University to help with its $53 million campaign and following the completion of that effort stayed on to work in the Princeton Development Office. In 1966 he resigned to join two colleagues to form a fund-raising and public relations firm in NYC. In 1972, John formed his own fund-raising firm, John F. Harper and Co., which focused on some of the finest independent schools and colleges along the East Coast.
He served as ’54 Class Agent, 25th Princeton Reunion Class Chair, and Vice-President and President of the Class of 1954. John played the ukulele and was a member of the “Buster Lewis” all male joke club in the 1980s.
John and “Margee” were married in 1987 and worked together in John’s firm until 1992. Since then they have volunteered with local nonprofit organizations. John was a founding member of the Pacific Southern Model Railroad in Rocky Hill and built from “scratch” his own H-O gauge model railroad at his home, which he operated for many years. He was President of the Nassau Club from 1996-1998 and Treasurer thereafter until 2007. He also served on the Boards of the Princeton Area Community Foundation and Delaware Raritan Greenway.
John is survived by his wife, four children, his sister, Priscilla, and her husband, Charles, and seven grandchildren. He was predeceased by Katherine Johnson Harper and Nancy Bailey Harper. We will all miss him terribly. We are most grateful to his caretakers for the past seven years, Louis Semexan, Steve Mathelier, Benedik Louis, and John Hyppolyte.
There will be a graveside service, in the Harper family plot, in Woodlawn Cemetery, New Windsor, NY.
Donations may be made to Delaware Raritan Greenway, One Preservation Place, Princeton, NJ 08540.
Extend condolences and share remembrances at TheKimbleFuneralHome.com.
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Sybil L. Stokes
Sybil L. Stokes, 89, died of complications from COVID-19 on December 31, 2020. She lived in the Princeton area for more than half her life.
Born in Brooklyn, Sybil was the daughter of Samuel and Sadie Langbaum and the younger sister of Lawton and Stanley. A bright, bookish girl, she graduated as valedictorian of Lafayette High School in 1949. She attended Cornell University on a Regents scholarship, was elected to Phi Beta Kappa her junior year, and graduated in the Class of 1953. She then went to Yale University, to pursue graduate study in Political Science. There she met Donald E. Stokes, a fellow graduate student. The two married in 1955. As an interfaith couple, they had two ceremonies, one Jewish, the other Quaker.
Sybil and Don began their married life in Ann Arbor, where they both worked at the University of Michigan and raised their two daughters, Betsy and Sue. Sybil conducted research at the Institute of Public Administration and co-founded the Center for Continuing Education of Women. Her political activism included serving as President of the county chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, campaigning for Democrats, and participating in various civil rights and anti-Vietnam War activities. Sybil attended the Ann Arbor Friends Meeting for nearly 20 years.
In 1974, Sybil moved to Princeton when Don became Dean of the School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University. Many of the School’s faculty and administrative staff became her dear friends. She worked at the Educational Testing Service, eventually directing the SAT program, and as Director of Grants Management for the State of New Jersey’s Health and Human Services Department, from which she retired in 1992.
In retirement, she pursued her passions for literature, the Times crossword, and social justice, tutored for Literacy Volunteers, and served on the board of Child Care Connection. She traveled the world with Don until his death in 1997 and later with her family and her friends. She moved to Stonebridge retirement community in 2010, where she chaired the Program Committee for several years.
Sybil is survived by her daughters, Elizabeth Stokes (Mesut B. Çakır) of Princeton and Susan C. Stokes (Steve Pincus) of Chicago, five grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren.
To honor Sybil’s memory, donations may be made to Mercer Street Friends of Trenton (mercerstreetfriends.org) or the ACLU of New Jersey (aclu-nj.org). A celebration of Sybil’s life is planned for the future.
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Shinobu Asano
Shinobu Asano, affectionately known to everyone as “Dink,” died peacefully at her home in Princeton, NJ, on January 18, 2021 at the age of 93. Dink was born to George and Hisae Yamamoto on July 17, 1927 in San Jose, California, where she spent much of her childhood. Her high school years were spent in a WWII Japanese Relocation Camp. A young woman ahead of her time, Dink pursued a college education, graduating from Temple University with a degree in business.
Soon after, she met, fell in love, and married Dr. Akira “Aki” Asano. They moved from Philadelphia, PA, to Princeton, NJ, where they raised their family. Dink was employed in a variety of capacities over her lifetime including as a house girl, a classroom aide at Miss Mason’s School, an administrator/manager with the Princeton Tennis Program, and ultimately as an administrative assistant at Princeton University. Bright, witty, and energetic, Dink enjoyed reading, gardening, socializing, and playing tennis.
Dink was preceded in death by her mother and father, her husband Aki, her sister and brother-in-law Yuri (George) Nishimura, her brother and sister-in-law Ayao “Al” (Helen) Yamamato, and her brother Kinzo Yamamoto. She is survived by her sons David of Easton, CT, and Gary (Debra) of Marquette, MI; her granddaughters Megan and Mallory; her brother Tetsuo (Hiroko) Yamamoto; and many nieces and nephews.
The family has decided to postpone memorial plans at this time. In lieu of flowers, the family is asking that donations be made in her name to either The Michigan Dental Association Foundation (www.foundation.michigandental.org) or to the Maritime Aquarium in Norwalk, CT (www.maritimeaquarium.org/donate).
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Hannah Schussel
Hannah Marcia Schussel (née Schulz) was born on the first day of spring, March 20, 1950 in Jamaica, Queens. On January 15, 2021, after telling her husband “I love you,” she succumbed to heart failure at the University of Pennsylvania hospital. She was 70 years old.
Hannah, daughter of Morris and Natalie Schulz, grew up in Great Neck, New York, and developed a passion for retail at a young age, spending many days in her grandfather’s appliance store, Plesser’s. Every Saturday of her childhood, Hannah walked to temple with her beloved father and her younger sister, Anita.
She attended Nassau Community College and Hoftstra University, earning her Masters in Special Ed, but quickly found her passion in sales, first wholesaling bras and girdles for Playtex. She then sold radio ad space for WKTU, the hottest rock station in Manhattan. And for a short, glorious year, she and her lifelong friend, Marcia, ran a personal correspondence service called Ghost Writers.
Hannah’s gift was knowing her customers. Upon moving to Princeton with her two young daughters, she and her husband opened Toys…the Store, the first of its kind on Palmer Square. They ran the shop successfully for seven years, at one point opening a second location in Pennington. Through her daughters’ acting, Hannah became involved with McCarter Theatre Center, and she later created McCarter’s first and only gift shop, serving as buyer, merchandiser, and manager of a network of volunteers. Her next venture was Hannah!, an accessories boutique that showcased her unique sense of style. Most recently, Hannah was the Assistant Manager for BCBG’s MaxAzria store in Lord & Taylor at Quaker Bridge Mall, delighting in giving her clients personal attention, and in wearing her paycheck!
Hannah dressed impeccably in black, and the jangling of her bangles always announced her. She was constantly seeking her next entrepreneurial venture, as long as it left time for: dates with her husband, visits to the beach, sushi, Italy, everything her grandchildren said or did or drew, The Young and the Restless, The Rolling Stones, watching her daughter Madeline on TV, film openings and weekly movie dates, traditions and holidays, cooking multi-course meals, fashion and design, celebrity gossip, tequila, the gym, and keeping in touch with friends and family. She was the consummate cheerleader and the fiercest protector of everyone she loved.
She had no patience for rudeness, negativity, or wire hangers. She was vivacious and colorful, and optimistic to the last minutes of her life.
She is survived by her husband and best friend of 44 years, Sandy Schussel; her daughters Madeline Blue Schussel and Stefanie (Schussel) Todd; son-in-law Nathan Todd; grandchildren Penelope and Levi; her sister Anita (Schulz) Goldman and family; her mother-in-law Rita Schussel; her in-laws Buddy Schussel, Rick Schussel, and sister-in-law Jodie (Schussel) Cohen and their families; all of her favorite cousins; her lifelong friends; and many fans.
A private funeral and burial was held on Tuesday, January 19th at Floral Park Cemetery in South Brunswick. Our sincerest thanks to Rabbi Robert Freedman for a beautiful service and for bringing so much light to her in her last few months of hospital stays. Thanks also to the Star of David Funeral Home, and to the staff at Penn Medical in Princeton and Philadelphia.
We plan to celebrate Hannah the way she deserves to be celebrated next year. In the meantime, in lieu of flowers, please make a donation in Hannah’s honor at https://memories.net/timeline/hannah-schussel-94890#.YAhkjdSwbnQ.link.