Joseph Carberry

Joseph Carberry, 81, of Princeton passed away on Monday, May 1, 2023.

A remarkable man with quick wit and a genuine love of life, he will be dearly missed by all who had the honor to know him.

Joseph grew up in Ramsey, NJ, graduated from Don Bosco High School, Marquette University, and later earned his MBA from Rider University. Most of his life, Joseph lived in Princeton, NJ, where he was an active member of Springdale Golf Club. In addition to golf, Joseph was an exceptional athlete and lifelong runner who ran over 50 marathons and triathlons. A proud Marine, he served our country during the Vietnam War, earning a purple heart medal. As an executive for Hercules Inc., he traveled the world and resided in Italy and Holland for a number of years. Famous for his pranks and his huge smile, Joseph lived his life with contagious joy and energy. He was deeply loved by his family, especially his grandchildren who treasured their time with Grandpa Joe.

Predeceased by his parents Patrick and Annette (Brinn) Carberry; and siblings Maura, Kevin, Aidan, and Brendan; he is survived by his wife Ute (Schueller) Carberry; three daughters and sons-in-law, Laura and Jack Muldowney, Jill and Matthew Gennari, Kristl and David Stanaland; beloved grandchildren Connor, Caitlin, Ryan, Kevin, James, Chase, Sarah, and Leah; and siblings Thomas, Patrick, Sheila, Eile, Michael, Shaun, and Alanna.

Visitation will be held on Friday, May 5, 2023 from 4-7 p.m. at the Mather-Hodge Funeral Home, 40 Vandeventer Avenue, Princeton, NJ 08542. Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at 10 a.m. on Saturday, May 6, 2023, at the Incarnation-St. James Church, 1545 Pennington Road, Ewing, NJ 08618.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made in memory of Joseph Carberry to support Dr. Virgil Muresan’s Lab at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School. Dr. Muresan’s Lab studies Alzheimer’s disease.  Donations can be made online at:  give.rutgers.edu/JosephCarberry or sent to Rutgers University Foundation, P.O. Box 193, New Brunswick, NJ 08913.

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

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Lauren E. Lepow

Lauren E. Lepow died peacefully in her home of nearly 40 years, in Princeton, NJ, on April 17, 2023, at the age of 72, shortly after being diagnosed with lung cancer. She was surrounded by books, art, music, family, and friends at the time of her passing.

Lauren was born in 1950 in Cleveland, Ohio. When asked by adults what she wanted to be when she grew up, young Lauren would look up and ask earnestly, “Is there a job where I can get paid to read books?” Although this response always resulted in chuckles from the inquiring adults, Lauren was determined to land her dream job, and that is exactly what she did. She attended Oberlin College as an undergrad and then graduate school at the University of Connecticut, where she obtained her Master of Arts and Doctor of Philosophy degrees in English Literature and met her future husband, Michael Montgomery (who sadly passed away in 2006). Lauren and Michael married and started their family while living and teaching college classes at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. With young children Tom and Jean in tow, they made their final move to Princeton, NJ, in 1985.

Lauren continued her career in academia, through college-level teaching and then academic copyediting, following the family’s move to the East Coast, but she ultimately found her home as a Senior Manuscript Editor for Princeton University Press, in 1991. During her 32-year tenure at the Press, she worked with well-established authors, including Derek Bok, Peter Brown, Eric Cline, Harry Frankfurt, Adrienne Mayor, Adriana Petryna, Robert Shiller, Michael Sonenscher, and Eric Weitz. She additionally relished the opportunity to develop strong partnerships with new authors. Over the years at Princeton University Press, Lauren also made significant contributions to meaningful projects, such as shepherding continuing series volumes through production, notably The Complete Works of W. H. Auden, The Correspondence of Henry David Thoreau, and The Papers of Thomas Jefferson. She was truly passionate about her work, and only retired due to her illness just months before her passing.

In addition to being a peerless editor, Lauren was a wonderful friend, teacher, sister, cousin, mother, and grandmother. She leaves behind her children, grandchildren, and gran-dog, Bella, whom she probably loved the most! She was known by the ones she loved for hosting wonderfully elaborate Shakespeare parties, finishing the New York Times crossword puzzle every morning before breakfast, and for being a truly terrifying Scrabble opponent. She had a knack and passion for food, and enjoyed challenging herself in the kitchen, often creating culinary works of art. Later in life, she became an incredible crafter of miniatures. She absolutely adored seeing anything made to just ridiculously tiny proportions, and did her best to replicate these cute creations, either with paper, wood, glass, and metal, or, if the mood struck her, with chocolate or marzipan. Lauren was never one to sit still for long, and always had multiple projects at her fingertips, but she learned later in life the ability to take time for herself. So while she could build an entire miniature village by lunchtime, she also found the beauty and benefit of taking a few hours in the afternoon to snuggle up with her family and beloved Bella to binge watch The Gilmore Girls, The Crown, or her guilty pleasure known only to a precious few, Buffy The Vampire Slayer (the multi-series TV show) while sipping a glass of her favorite New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc.

Arrangements are under direction of Ruby Memorial Funeral Home in North Brunswick, NJ.

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Sarah E. Hoffman

Sarah E. Hoffman, 99, a lifelong resident of Princeton, passed away on Wednesday, April 26, 2023. She graduated from St. Paul’s School in 1937, Princeton High School in 1941, attended Secretarial School at Rider University, and received her associate degree in business from Mercer County Community College. She was a parishioner and Hospitality Chair at St. Paul’s Church, and a member and secretary for the local chapter of AARP. She loved to travel and was a doting grandmother and great grandmother.

Predeceased by her parents John Stephen and Kathleen (Quigley) McCafferty; husband Robert C. Hoffman; sister Kathleen Sayles; grandson Sam Davis; son-in-law Paul Davis; and sister-in-law Marjorie Darr. She is survived by her three daughters Liz (Art) Cramp of Pennington, Kathleen (Mark) Lakarosky of Kendall Park, Jo Hoffman-Davis of Washington State; two sons R. Douglas (Brenda) Hoffman of Mercerville and Stephen (Zonna) Hoffman of Kansas; 17 grandchildren; 22 great-grandchildren; and several nieces and nephews.

Visitation and Mass of Christian Burial were held on Monday, May 1, 2023 at St. Paul’s Church, 216 Nassau Street, Princeton, NJ 08542. Burial followed in St. Paul’s Church Cemetery.

In lieu of flowers donations may be made to St. Paul’s Church or School, Princeton, NJ.

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

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Marilyn Shanks

Marilyn Shanks, a resident Palm Beach County Florida, passed away April 25, 2023. Marilyn graduated from Princeton High School, and attended Rider College and New York University, where she did her graduate work.

For many years she owned and operated a restaurant in Tequesta, Florida. She, along with her husband Bill, owned and operated a woodworking shop in Hobe Sound, Florida. In addition to being an avid tennis player and golfer, she and her husband enjoyed deep-sea sport fishing and playing cards.

Marilyn was a longtime member of the Church of the Good Shepard in Tequesta, Florida, and a volunteer at the Riviera, Florida, soup kitchen where she spent much time helping others. Marilyn also volunteered at the Jupiter Theater in Florida.

A private memorial service will be held at the Trinity Church in Princeton, and interment will be in the Princeton Cemetery.

Arrangements are by the Wilson-Apple Funeral Home, Pennington. Condolences are welcome at wilsonapple.com.

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Annette (Cottrell) Merle-Smith

Annette (Cottrell) Merle-Smith died on Monday, April 3, 2023, at the age of 92, in Princeton, New Jersey, from complications related to stomach cancer. She was in her own bed, in her own home, surrounded by her surviving family — daughter Meg, son-in-law Tomas, and grandchildren Max and Karolina — which was precisely the way she wanted it.

Annette was born on Christmas Eve, 1930, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, to parents Annette (Brinkerhoff) and William Cottrell, both passionate readers, environmentalists, activists, and ornithologists. As an only child, Annette was heavily influenced by her parents’ curiosity of the world around, and every evening before dinner they would all sit down for “drink time,” when they would look at art and discuss it together.

During high school (Buckingham School) in Cambridge, Annette volunteered in the Print Department at Harvard University’s Fogg Art Museum. She then went on to attend Bennington College (Vermont) while she continued to volunteer for organizations such as Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts (MFA), the California Palace of the Legion of Honor, and the Corning Museum of Glass. She graduated in 1951 with a BA in Art History, and soon after, moved back to Boston, where she began her work at the MFA as the Director of the Children’s Room, wrote a book about dragons, and collaborated with PBS to create a children’s television program about art.

Annette’s marriage to “Mike” (Fowler) would take her to Princeton, New Jersey, for Mike’s work at the Princeton Day School. Here, their children Meg and Peter were born, and Annette became a long-serving docent for the Princeton University Art Museum. It was also through Mike and his family’s roots, which stretched back several generations, that Annette would find her self-described “spiritual home” amongst the Adirondack Mountains in Keene Valley, upstate New York. Although she traveled widely, Annette cherished the town and she managed to spend her summers at the family retreat here. Her love, care, and concern for the community was boundless, and she was a benefactor to a wide range of organizations and causes spread out across the region.

A dedicated nature-lover and patron of the sciences as well as the arts, Annette served as President of ‘Friends of Marquand Park’ until recently, was on the board of trustees at the Cunningham Dance Foundation and subscribed to the Metropolitan Opera of New York City with Mike for many years. She funded performances, publications, and research projects through the Institute for Advanced Study, and established
fellowships at The American School of Classical Studies at Athens in Greece, the Center for Research and Training in Anthropogeny, and at the Jonas Salk Institute, where she tried to visit annually. She was involved in countless other cultural, educational, and environmental initiatives, including Little Peaks Preschool in her beloved Keene.

Annette possessed a truly generous and curious spirit along with a fierce intelligence and sparkling wit. She was a thoughtful person, always as concerned for her people as for her causes, and she spent her entire life tirelessly devoted to them. Although she found joy in so many things, and committed herself far and wide, it was her love for her family that drove her in life, and it was evident in all she did. She will be dearly and deeply missed, and her absence felt by many, including her extended family, those in her local communities, and beyond.

A memorial service was held in Princeton, New Jersey, on Sunday, April 23. Annette will also be remembered at a second service on Friday, May 12, 12 p.m., at the Congregational Church in Keene Valley, New York. This will be followed by a reception at the Little Peaks Preschool in neighboring Keene. In lieu of flowers, Annette would have loved for people to support their local parks and communities through donations, their time, or in any sort of meaningful way they can.