Stuart M. Ellerstein
Stuart M. Ellerstein passed away Saturday June 30, 2018 at Princeton Penn Medicine Medical Center in Plainsboro, NJ following a short illness.
Stuart was born in Brooklyn, NY where he spent his early years before moving to the Belle Harbor section of Queens. He developed a love of science during this time, which landed him at Brooklyn Technical High School.
Following his graduation in 1947 he attended Clarkson College of Technology (now Clarkson University) in Potsdam, NY. He graduated in 1951 with a BS in Chemistry and minors in physics and mathematics. Within a few years he would attend Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn (now part of NYU) to pursue a PhD in Chemistry, but not before meeting his future wife, Elaine Sklan, in Rockaway, NY. Rumor has it she tripped him on the boardwalk. They would go on to marry on that same boardwalk in July 1957.
Stuart completed his PhD in 1961. His dissertation was on the Adsorption of Poly-Methylmethacrylate, an acrylic now used in everything from airplane windows to intraocular lens replacements. He conducted post-doctoral work at Brown University.
Leaving the world of academics behind, Stuart took a job with Technical Research Institute (TRI) in 1963 which brought him to the Princeton area, before joining Trenton-based Thiokol Corporation where he rose to the level of director of the polymer division before retiring in 1993. During his time at Thiokol his specialty was coatings. Stuart worked on myriad projects throughout his career. One notable project in the age before digital cameras was creating the 3-D lenticular photo development process for Nimslo, a manufacturer which as a result became the number-one-selling 35mm camera for a brief time.
Known for his dry humor and encyclopedic knowledge of everything, Stuart loved art, reading, photography, and listening to music as well as attending live performances — ballet, opera, symphony, and theater. In the early 1960s he and Elaine frequented Greenwich Village cafes where they happened to catch an up and coming Bob Dylan. Stuart was a world traveler who was also known for cranking out the Sunday NY Times crossword puzzle in 30 minutes (in pen) as well as for attempting to solve infamous mathematical problems such as Fermat’s Last Theorem and trisecting angles. Most importantly he was a ubiquitous and ever-present force for his family.
Except for a 10-year period from 1984-1993 when he relocated for work, Stuart resided in the Princeton area since 1963. He is predeceased by his wife, as well as by his parents Bernard and Beatrice. He is survived by three sons: Robert (Sarah) of Chanhassen, MN; David of Delray Beach, FL; and Bruce (Jackie) of New York City; as well as seven grandchildren: Jamie, Sydney, Ally, Alexandra, Ethan, Luke, and Emma.
A graveside service was held on Friday, July 6, 2018 in Princeton Cemetery, Princeton, NJ.
Donations, in his memory, to the American Diabetes Association (www.ada.org) or the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH.org) are appreciated.
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David William Blair
David William Blair of Princeton, New Jersey, died on July 15, at the age of 88.
Beloved husband, father, and grandfather, David was born in Santa Barbara, California, October 5, 1929, and grew up an only child on his parents’ angus cattle ranch in Wimer Rogue River Valley, Oregon. David was educated in a one room schoolhouse and persuaded to go to Oregon State University where he earned a BS, then on to Columbia University earning a Masters and PhD, all three degrees in Mechanical Engineering, accompanied by several academic honors. David taught at Columbia as a teaching assistant, instructor, and associate adjunct professor.
Fresh from Oregon, David met Rosemary Miles of Brooklyn, New York, where they were both studying at Columbia University. They were married in 1954, a union that lasted 61 years until Rosemary’s death in 2015. In 1958, they moved their growing family to Princeton where David was a research associate at Princeton University. In 1962, the still growing family moved to Norway for David’s postdoctoral fellowship at the Royal Norwegian Council for Industrial and Scientific Research. They left with four children, returned with five, and were joined by a sixth two years later.
David worked at Exxon Research and Engineering in their corporate research and government labs. Following a 14-year tenure in the Exxon Labs he founded the company Princeton Scientific Enterprises, an R&D organization specializing in high temperature technology with particular expertise in combustion, high temperature chemistry, combustion generated air pollution, high temperature energy transfer and energy conversion. He holds numerous patents in this area. His company, PSE, received one of the first U.S. Army Ballistic Research Laboratory awards for Exceptional and Significant Work Performed on th BRL Mission. He was published widely on the subject of high temperature combustion processes.
David served on Princeton Township Committee for a decade, the Princeton Civil Rights Commission, and many other community groups. He supported and participated in his wife’s environmental activities and endeavors including the founding of the D&R Greenway Land Trust in Princeton, New Jersey. He pursued his lifelong passion to further just causes wherever the opportunity arose. Forever proud of his roots in the Oregon mountains, David embraced Princeton and the opportunities it gave his boisterous family. An enthusiastic conversationalist, he was always ready to impart hard-earned backcountry wisdom on animal care, tree felling, hunting, motorcycles, camping, and outdoor endeavors of all sorts to his friends, children, and associates.
In 1962 David and Rosemary took the family and dogs on a road trip/house swap to Nova Scotia, returning every summer thereafter and settling in Bayfield, a community they, their children, and now grandchildren, hold close in their hearts.
One of David’s favorite places was on the deck overlooking the bay in Nova Scotia with a Lamb’s rum in his hand. David is survived by his children: Karen (Tom) Horn, Barbara Blair, Maria (Eric) Belliveau, Amanda (Peter) Nichols, David (Bernice) Blair, and Rachel (Terry) McGregor. He delighted in his 16 far-flung grandchildren: Ben, Amos, Kate, Henry, Philip, Willie, Lucy, Blaire (Kenny), Zach, Becca, David, Edie, John, Norah, Sam, and Charlie.
David will rest at the Mather–Hodge Funeral Home, 40 Vandeventer Ave., Princeton, New Jersey. Visiting hours are 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. on Friday, July 20. A funeral mass will be said on Saturday, July 21, at the Princeton University Chapel at 11 a.m. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the D&R Greenway Land Trust in Princeton, New Jersey.
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W. James Walsh
W. James Walsh died on July 13, 2018 in Skillman, N.J., two months short of his 98th birthday. Mr. Walsh was born in Newark, N.J. on September 17, 1920. He was predeceased by his mother, Alice (Gibbs) Walsh and father, William J. Walsh. He graduated from Newark Academy and Princeton University, where he was a member of the basketball team and the Cannon Club. Mr. Walsh was a member of the Princeton Class of 1943, which was graduated on an accelerated basis in January of that year to allow class members to serve in World War II. On graduation, Mr. Walsh joined the Army and served in the 43rd Infantry Division as a first lieutenant. He saw fighting in the Solomon Islands, New Guinea, and the Philippines and was awarded the Bronze Star for his “coolness under fire” and was commended by his CO as “a brave and gallant soldier.”
On returning from the war, Mr. Walsh received his JD from Rutgers University Law School. He worked as a labor relations attorney for his entire career. After passing the New York bar Mr. Walsh met the love of his life, Mary Frances Hildebrand, in New York City. They were married in 1950 and have three daughters. Mr. Walsh and his family lived for many years in Upper Montclair, N.J. as well as in Saginaw, MI and in 1969 moved to Princeton. He was most recently a resident of the Stonebridge Montgomery retirement community in Skillman.
From his student days onward Princeton University was near to his heart. Mr. Walsh was the President of the Princeton Class of 1943 at his death, a position he held for over 20 years, and was tireless in working for the University’s Annual Giving campaigns. He was thrilled to have attended his 75th reunion in June of this year. Mr. Walsh was also a member and past President of the Old Guard, a member of the Nassau Club, and the Nassau Presbyterian Church for many years.
Mr. Walsh is survived by his wife, Mary H. Walsh; his three daughters and their husbands (Cynthia Walsh and Rene Milo, Diana and Paul Magnin, and Jennifer and Bernard Wharton); five grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.
Arrangements are under the direction of The Mather-Hodge Funeral Home, Princeton.
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John “Jack” Sweeney
1923 — 2018
Jack, 95, was born June 22, 1923 in Princeton and died in Gilbert, AZ on July 7th, 2018. He was married to Alice Elizabeth Kroll Sweeney (deceased) for 32 years and Helen Sweeney for 40 years. He is survived by Helen; his oldest son David and his wife, June, from Gilbert, AZ; and younger son, Robert residing in Colorado. His mother was Mary Sweeney, a school teacher from Glasgow, Scotland and his father was Michael Sweeney, a brick layer from Ireland. His siblings were Helen, James, Edward, Francis, and Mary. Jack went to St. Paul’s Grammar School, where he and Alice first met, and Princeton High School, where he played tailback on the varsity football team. Jack also played varsity baseball and basketball. During the Second World War, Jack entered the military and was inducted at Ft. Dix. He was transferred to the tank division at Ft. Hood Texas. In 1944 he received an honorable discharge. He returned from Texas to find Alice waiting for him. They would marry three months later. He worked as an engineer for the Penn Central Railroad for 42 years before retiring. Jack was an avid golfer and a member of the Springdale Golf Course from 1954 — 2018. He was a club champion and held the course record of 65 for 30 years from 1965 until 1995. He would eventually be made an honorary lifetime member for his dedication to the game and his love of the Springdale Golf Course. He coached his sons on the PBA’s Engine Company #3 little league baseball team from 1958 — 1964. Jack loved his family. He loved sports. And he loved Princeton. Jack will be greatly missed. In lieu of flowers please send any donations to the American Cancer Society.
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Joseph W. Katz
Joseph W. Katz, 91, who left an indelible mark on New Jersey politics and advocacy from the newsroom, campaign bus, and State House corridors, died at his home in Skillman on Friday, July 13, 2018.
Before emerging as one of the state’s first and most influential lobbyists, Katz had crossed from reporting on government to working in it. For 10 years, he reported for the Newark Evening News, much of the time as a political reporter, before leaving to advise the 1961 gubernatorial campaign of Democrat Richard J. Hughes. Working for Hughes, widely considered an underdog, Katz developed policy positions and political strategy that contributed to Hughes’s nationally acclaimed 1961 upset victory, replicating on the state level what John F. Kennedy had accomplished nationally a year earlier. He served the Hughes administration as Special Assistant to the Governor, remaining through the governor’s landslide reelection before leaving in 1966 to form the Joseph W. Katz Company.
Katz’s expectations of running a public relations and political messaging shop were quickly up-ended, as his business and trade association clients importuned him to represent their interests before the executive and legislative branches, and as a result to pioneer the role of contract lobbyist. His daughters recall struggling to explain to their schoolmates — and the schoolmates’ parents — exactly what it was “a lobbyist” actually did.
Over 25 years, Katz built Trenton’s leading advocacy and public relations firm, earning a reputation for straight talk and the sobriquet “dean of Trenton lobbyists.” Katz’s firm represented businesses and trade associations “from cradle to grave,” as he put it in a 1995 oral history conducted by Rutgers University, noting, “We represented the Medical Society, which delivered babies, to the Cemetery Association.”
In a 1992 joint legislative resolution occasioned by Katz’s retirement from politics, the N.J. Senate and General Assembly commended his earning “the respect of members of both political parties in the Legislative and Executive branches of government … his knowledge of the most obscure nooks and crannies of the legislative process and the folklore of New Jersey politics, [and] his appreciation of the relationship between politics and farce.”
A son of Eastern European Jews, Katz grew up speaking Yiddish and English interchangeably at home, yet carved a career as wordsmith, analyst, and government advocate, exemplifying the ideal of early 20th century immigrant success. He was born in 1927 in Irvington, New Jersey, the first of two children of Anna (Rosenbaum) and Max Katz, owners of a candy store. The family moved to Freehold and, in 1938, Kearny, where they operated a delicatessen and liquor store catering primarily to workers in the nearby factories.
In high school, Katz worked in his parents’ store and wrote about high school sports as a stringer for The Star-Ledger and Sunday Call newspapers. He enrolled at Rutgers University for two semesters before enlisting in the Navy, where he served as a radio technician on ships ferrying World War II troops home from China and Japan.
Katz graduated Rutgers after the war and, with G.I. Bill funding, earned a master’s degree from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern. He joined the Newark News in 1951 as a beat reporter. After marrying in 1956, Katz and the former Eileen Wolf, of New York City, raised a family of four daughters, moving from South Orange to Ewing Township to Princeton, where he resided for over 40 years. After their divorce, he remarried and again divorced. In later years, he and his first wife hosted annual family reunions for their children and grandchildren.
Katz is survived by his sister, Rosalyn Bendit, of New York City; his daughters and their husbands: Jane (Sam) Katz-Christy, of Cambridge, Mass.; Carol Katz (Mark) Connelly of Lawrenceville, N.J.; Mandy Katz (Jonathan Massey), of Bethesda, Md.; and Dr. Julia Katz (Mark) Schonfeld, of Scarsdale, N.Y.; and ten grandchildren.
Funeral services were Monday, July 16 at Temple Micah, Lawrenceville. Burial followed at Lawrenceville Cemetery. The family suggests that those wishing to make a memorial contribution do so to Rutgers University or the American Civil Liberties Union. Funeral Arrangements are by Orland’s Ewing Memorial Chapel, 1534 Pennington Road, Ewing Township.
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John Frederick Matthews Grassle
John Frederick Matthews Grassle of Princeton, and formerly of Woods Hole, MA died in his sleep on Friday, July 6, 2018 at Regency Jewish Heritage Nursing Center in Franklin Township, NJ. He was 78.
Fred, as he was known to everyone, was born on July 14, 1939 in Cleveland, OH. He was raised in Bay Village, OH, graduating from Bay Village High School in 1957. He received a degree in Zoology from Yale University in 1961. During his studies, he spent a summer as an intern at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), setting the course for the rest of his professional career as an oceanographer. Fred received his PhD from Duke University in 1967 and then completed a Fulbright Fellowship at the University of Queensland in Australia studying succession on the reef crest at Heron Island on the Great Barrier Reef. Following his fellowship, Fred joined WHOI as a full-time Assistant Scientist in 1969. During his tenure at WHOI, Fred conducted research on deep-sea biodiversity, initially with Howard Sanders. His earliest work was focused on determining why the deep-sea benthic macrofauna were highly diverse. His theory was that the ocean floor was much like a rain forest where a patchwork of different micro-environments allows animal species to evolve independently. This interest led to Fred’s early involvement in the first biological expedition to survey the hydrothermal vents discovered at the Galapagos Rift in 1977. Fred conducted pioneering research contributing to the world’s understanding of the unique ecosystems near these volcanic vents at the sea floor, fueled by chemical energy from the Earth’s interior rather than sunlight. The first of a series of expeditions over the course of Fred’s career was documented in the National Geographic Society’s documentary Dive to the Edge of Creation.
In 1989, Fred joined the faculty at Rutgers University’s Cook College to establish the Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences. He helped to raise funds for a new building to house the Institute whilst expanding the research and teaching faculty and conducting his own research. This included an analysis of ocean dumping that led to the end of sludge disposal in U.S. waters. Later Fred helped to establish one of the first ocean observing stations off the coast of New Jersey and was one of the founders of the Census of Marine Life and Ocean Biogeographic Information System. Fred retired in 2012 with 23 years of service to Rutgers University. Among other honors, Fred was awarded the Japan Prize, the Benjamin Franklin Medal, the Grand Prix des Sciences de la Mer Albert de Monaco, and the ASLO Lifetime Achievement Award. He has had six species and one genus of polychaetes, three species of mollusks, and three species of crustacea named after him.
Son of the late John Kendall and Norah Iris (Fleck) Grassle, he is survived by his wife of 53 years, Judith Helen (Payne) Grassle, a son John Thomas Grassle, his sister Norah Jean (Grassle) Bunts, and brother-in-law Frank Bunts.
Arrangements are by The Mather-Hodge Funeral Home in Princeton.
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Memorial Gathering
Emmi Spies
A Memorial Gathering in celebration of the life of Emmi Spies will be held on Saturday, August 4 at 2 p.m., as a non-denominational service hosted by friends and family at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation, 50 Cherry Hill Road, Princeton, NJ 08540.