MaryAnn Closterman

MaryAnn Closterman, 87, formerly of Princeton died Wednesday October 28, 2015 at Stonebridge at Montgomery in Skillman. She was born May 20, 1928 in Newark, the daughter of the late Whitney Joseph Coleman and Sarah Thornley Coleman, and later moved to Clark Township, N.J. She graduated from Jonathan Dayton Regional High School in Springfield, N.J. in 1946 and embarked on a successful career as a legal secretary. She married Malcolm John Closterman in 1948 and they enjoyed setting up residences in Massachusetts and California as he made his way through the corporate ranks of Ernest & Ernest, RCA, and Gulf + Western. They settled in Princeton in 1960 and MaryAnn remained in their home after her husband’s death in 1992, until her relocation to Stonebridge earlier this year.

She is survived by her daughter Elizabeth Anne and son-in-law Reid James Murray of Hopewell, and beloved granddaughter Charlotte of New York City. She also leaves a sister Sarah and brother-in-law Reginald Wayton of Linwood, N.J., as well as loving nieces and nephews. She will be truly missed and held dear in our memories.

MaryAnn is remembered and treasured for her commitment to family and community. In her daily life she dedicated herself to others. She made a difference to, and a lasting impression on, individuals and organizations. She served as a volunteer for Princeton Hospital (and all of its succeeding incarnations) for over 50 years. She delivered meals for Meals on Wheels until last year and greatly enjoyed visiting with the clients she served. She also devoted time to the Princeton Public Library and Recording for the Blind. MaryAnn was active for years in Princeton schools as her daughter, Elizabeth, progressed from Riverside, to Valley Road, to Stuart Country Day. She enjoyed traveling internationally and domestically and some of her favorite destinations were London, Edinburgh, Dublin, San Diego, Palm Beach, and Nantucket. She also enjoyed needlepoint, reading, and caring for her pets (all of whom were rescue animals).

MaryAnn was a proud graduate of Rutgers University, receiving her BA with honors (in recognition of outstanding character and scholarship) in 1978.

The family would like to thank her caregivers at Stonebridge. They helped to make this inevitably difficult journey gentler.

A funeral mass will be celebrated at St. Paul Catholic Church, 214 Nassau Street, Princeton on Friday, November 6 at 10:45 a.m. followed by burial at Princeton Cemetery. Friends are invited to a gathering at the Kimble Funeral Home, 1 Hamilton Avenue, Princeton on Thursday, November 5 from 3 to 6 p.m.

Memorial contributions in memory of MaryAnn Closterman can be made to PHCS Foundation, 3626 US Hwy 1, Princeton, NJ 08540 or online at www.princetonhcs.org/giving; or Meals on Wheels, 707 Alexander Rd. Suite 101 Princeton, NJ 08540 (checks can be made out to the American Red Cross – please indicate on the Memo Line “Home Delivered Meals”).

Extend condolences and share remembrances at TheKimbleFuneralHome.com.

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Eleanor W. Angoff

Eleanor W. Angoff, 91, of Skillman, formerly of Princeton, passed away on Tuesday, October 27, 2015 at Stonebridge at Montgomery of natural causes.

A native of Highland Park, Mrs. Angoff moved to Princeton after her marriage to William H. Angoff in 1955. Prior to her marriage, she was a volunteer at Camp Kilmer during World War II and a volunteer nurse’s aide. While in Princeton she was a librarian assistant at the Littlebrook School and a member of the Jewish Family Service Advisory Board on Senior Activities and Housing Initiatives. Eleanor was also a trustee of Princeton Community Housing since 1992, which spearheaded the campaign for senior housing in Princeton. In addition to her other interests she was a lifelong baseball fan.

Eleanor was predeceased by her beloved husband, William H. Angoff in 1993 and her brother Larry Wolk. Surviving are her son and daughter-in-law, Douglas Angoff and Robin Greenberg; daughter Carolyn Angoff and two grandchildren, Zachary and Harrison Angoff.

Services were held Thursday, October 29, 2015 at The Jewish Center in Princeton with burial in Princeton Cemetery.

Memorial contributions, in her memory can be sent to the American Heart Association, P.O. Box 417005 Boston, MA 02241-7005 or  made online at donatenow.heart.org.

Extend condolences and share remembrances at TheKimbleFuneralHome.com.

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Charles Coulston Gillispie

Born in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania on August 6, 1918, Charles Coulston Gillispie, the Dayton-Stockton Professor of History and professor emeritus of the history of science at Princeton University, was the son of Robert L Gillispie and Virginia L. Coulston. He grew up in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, was a member of the class of 1935 at the South Kent School in South Kent, Connecticut, and graduated from Wesleyan University in 1940 with a bachelor’s degree in chemistry. After graduation, he remained at Wesleyan for his master’s degree in history. From 1942 until 1946, Gillispie served with the Third Army in Europe in a heavy mortar battalion, reaching the rank of captain. Following the war, he returned to the study of history, joining Princeton University’s faculty in 1947 and earning a PhD in history from Harvard University in 1949. He married Emily Ramsdell Clapp in 1949, whom he met in the summer of 1938 when they were members of a student group that travelled to Britain and the Continent under the auspices of the Experiment in International Living. He is predeceased by his beloved wife and helpmate of 64 years, and by his younger brother, Robert L., Jr.

Gillispie was a leading figure in the establishment of the history and philosophy of science as an academic discipline, having founded the Program in History of Science at Princeton in the 1960s. He is the author of many books that have become classics in the field, including Genesis and Geology: A Study in the Relations of Scientific Thought, Natural Theology, and Social Opinion in Great Britain, 1790-1850; The Edge of Objectivity: An Essay in the History of Scientific Ideas; and Pierre-Simon Laplace, 1749-1827: A Life in Exact Science. He was also the editor-in-chief of the Dictionary of Scientific Biography, a monumental reference work in 16 volumes with more than 4,500 essays on scientists and mathematicians of all periods and nationalities, for which he received the Dartmouth Medal from the American Library Association in 1981. His final work, Lazare and Sadi Carnot: A Scientific and Filial Relationship, a book of over 500 pages co-authored with Raffaele Pisano, was published last year.

Gillispie’s many awards and distinctions include the 1997 Balzan Prize for History and Philosophy of Science for “the extraordinary contribution he has made to the history and philosophy of science by his intellectually vigorous and exacting works.” Gillispie received the Pfizer Prize in 1981 from the History of Science Society for his book, Science and Polity in France at the End of the Old Regime, and the Sarton Medal in 1984. Among his other awards are the Dibner Award for Distinction in History of Science and Technology from MIT in 1994 and la Médialle Alexandre Koyré from the Académie Internationale d’Histoire des Sciences in 1985. In 1972, he was elected to membership in the American Philosophical Society, America’s oldest learned society. He received honorary Doctor of Science degrees from Wesleyan University in 1971, from Lafayette College in 2001, and a Doctor of Humane Letters degree from Princeton University in 2011.

Gillispie was founding adviser for Princeton’s Sachs Scholarship, one of the University’s most prestigious fellowships awarded to two graduating seniors: one for two years of study at Oxford University’s Worcester College, and the second for one year of study or travel abroad on a program of the student’s own design.

A service of remembrance will be held on November 13 at 2 p.m. in the Princeton University Chapel. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to Princeton University’s Daniel M. Sachs Class of 1960 Scholarship Fund.

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Linda Starr Spain

Linda Starr Spain, recently of Skillman, died November 2, 2015 at Greenwood House in Ewing. The cause of death was lung cancer and its after effects. Linda was born in Nashville, Tenn. and grew up in Washington D.C. She was a graduate of Sidwell Friends School, studied at Wellesley, graduated from The University of Wisconsin (Madison), and earned a Master of Arts degree from Columbia University where she studied film. For more than 40 years she was a film editor, winning awards for her work on prime time documentary films for ABC, CBS, NBC and PBS. In the editing room she was a quiet and supportive teacher, a mentor to a number of today’s successful film editors. For many years she managed, with her husband Tom, a documentary film company based in the Princeton area. In Princeton she took up ice dancing and was a member of The Princeton Skating Club. Linda’s passion was music and she was a member of the Masterwork Chorus, serving on its board and appearing with them every Christmas in Carnegie Hall. She was active in the Montgomery Township Democratic Committee and The League of Women Voters.

Linda was the daughter of the late Milton and Zaro Starr of Washington, D.C. and West Yarmouth, Mass. She is survived by her husband Tom Spain of Stockton, NJ; her daughter Joanne Spain of Frenchtown, NJ; and sons Frank Spain of West Islip, N.Y. and Matthew Spain of Lawrenceville, N.J.; and by sisters Ann Leslie Rosenblatt of Natick, Mass. and Barbara Starr of Columbia, Md.; and many nieces and nephews. A sister Sara Wolff of Amherst, Mass. and a brother Henry Starr of Silver Spring, Md. predeceased her.

Linda requested that there be no service. A family gathering is planned for her birthday in August 2016 on Cape Cod where she spent many happy summers. In lieu of flowers Linda’s family asks that donations be made in her name to The Masterwork Chorus in Morristown, N.J. (www.masterwork.org), Planned Parenthood (www.plannedparenhood.org), or The League of Women Voters (www.lwvnj.org).

Her family wishes to praise the staff members at Greenwood House for their professionalism, compassion, and the old fashioned love and comfort they gave to Linda in the last year of her life.