Robert Del Tufo

Robert Del Tufo, one of New Jersey’s most revered and accomplished attorneys, died at home in Princeton on March 2, 2016. He was 82. Born in Newark, he attended Newark Academy, Princeton University (’55) and Yale Law School (’58).

Robert Del Tufo loved New Jersey — its heft, grit, and potential. And he dedicated himself — from the day he passed the Bar — to serving the state — as U.S. Attorney, as director of Criminal Justice, as Attorney General, and more. When he returned to private practice, it was to open the New Jersey office of Skadden Arps where he was partner and of counsel for the last 20 years of his practice.

Public service was Robert Del Tufo’s calling. Over his career he served on scores of not-for-profit boards from the N.J. Sports and Exposition Authority to drug prevention programs such as Daytop and Integrity House, to John Cabot University in Rome, and toward the end of his career, to the troubled University of Medicine and Dentistry of N.J. — a pro-bono position he held for five years, ultimately restoring its institutional integrity. The late Richard Leone, one time head of the Port Authority wrote: “Del Tufo was chosen to fill every significant law enforcement post the state and nation had to offer in N.J. And he took on tasks that would not ordinarily be considered a test of integrity — like rebuilding trust in the state’s medical and dental school. He is the very model of law enforcement, justice, and the American way.”

Robert Del Tufo was defined by unusual pairings. He was a fearless litigator and tender-hearted friend; a humble high-achiever; an intensely private man and devoted public servant; an ardent listener, learner, and mentor. He was True North. He was a devoted, giving and protective husband to his wife, Kate Nouri Hughes, and he was a towering but shadowless father and grandfather who had the back of everyone of his four children, two step-children, and ten grandchildren.

A memorial service will be held on March 16, 2016 at 3 p.m. at Richardson Auditorium at Princeton University. Funeral arrangements are through the Mather Hodge Funeral Home in Princeton. In lieu of flowers please make contributions to the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra in New York City.

———

Barbara Sayre Ellis

Barbara Sayre Ellis died March 1, 2016. She was born December 5, 1920 to Frank and Marie Sayre and grew up in Philadelphia. A graduate of Germantown Friends School (1938) and Wells College (1942), she married Donovan R. Ellis, Jr. in 1947.

Through her genuine interest in others, outgoing personality, and keen sense of humor, Barbara formed strong connections with the people she encountered — both personally and professionally. The resulting host of friendships was maintained over long periods, some spanning nine decades.

During her 60 years in Princeton, Barbara actively participated in various civic organizations and the Nassau Presbyterian Church. An honorary member of Princeton University’s Class of 1940, she dabbled in real estate in the 1970s and 80s.

Barbara’s husband of 42 years died in 1989. She is survived by two daughters and sons-in-law; Joan Ellis Swanson (Ted) of Lynchburg, Va., and Julie Ellis Williams (Ray) of Ashland Va. She is also survived by two grandsons, Clayton Williams of San Francisco, Calif; Kirk Williams of Boulder, Colo.; and grand-dog Bella.

A memorial service and celebration of her life took place in Nassau Presbyterian Church Chapel in Princeton, Friday, March 4 at 11 a.m.

In lieu of flowers, Barbara would want those who knew her to share laughter and time with loved ones. Contributions in her memory may be made to Meals on Wheels or a charity of your choice.

———

Janet Elizabeth Howe

Janet Elizabeth Howe, 83, of Princeton died Monday, February 29, 2016 at the Merwick Care Center. Born in Baltimore, Md. on July 4, 1933, Janet was a resident of Princeton for over 49 years. Janet had a long and rewarding professional career, which included working at Ballantine Cashmere Sweaters, N.Y., Lord & Taylor, N.Y., Commodities Corporation, Princeton, and HIP of N.Y, Drexel Burnham Lambert, N.Y., and Johnson & Johnson, Skillman. Janet also volunteered at Princeton Project 55 and was a founding member of the Carnegie Lake Rowing Association.

Janet was an avid New York sports fan and rarely missed a Yankees, Knicks, or Giants game. Janet got the chance to meet Derek Jeter with her sister Pat and nephew Howe Burch at Camden Yards, a memory she truly cherished.

The New York Times was her favorite paper, and the news and a martini at 5 p.m. was her favorite ritual. Being a Democrat, politics was often a topic of conversation with her close friends, many of whom she had from high school, college, career, and social life.

Daughter of the late Edwin S. Howe and Katherine (Monahan) Howe, she is survived by her son Peter D. Spagnoli; Ex-husband Paul D. Spagnoli, Jr.; brother, John Howe; and three grandchildren, Jinmee, Oliver, and Sullivan Spagnoli.

A memorial service will be held at 11:30 a.m. on Saturday. March 12, 2016 at the Mather-Hodge Funeral Home, 40 Vandeventer Avenue, Princeton.

———

Richard Elden

Richard Edward Elden, 93, passed away peacefully at home on March 3, 2016. Dick lived in Princeton for 51 years before moving to Skillman in 2014.

The son of Howard Edward Elden, executive vice president of Dunlop, and Mary Horton Elden, a pharmacist from Ovid, N.Y., Dick was born in Seneca Falls, N.Y. He grew up in Buffalo, N.Y. with his parents and his older brother Howard S. Elden, who predeceased him in 2003. A gifted mathematician, he attended Bennett High School, earning the highest score in the state of New York on the 1940 Regents exam, and graduated as a chemistry major and math minor from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1944, where he also enjoyed crewing in sailboats on Boston’s back bay.

After graduating from MIT, he went to work at Columbia University to work on a “Secret War Project,” which turned out to be the Manhattan Project. Although the goal of this work was never revealed to him and his co-workers (or even their supervisors), he quickly figured out that they were trying to use gaseous diffusion to enrich uranium to make an atomic bomb. He served in the Navy during World War II, but was prohibited from leaving the U.S. because of his knowledge of the top-secret project. Instead he was stationed in the Wirephoto Division in the Navy Department Building in Washington, D.C, and decades later enjoyed recounting that he saw the photo of the Bikini Bomb Test before President Truman did.

After the war, he worked at Becco Chemical, earned a Masters Degree in chemistry from the University of Washington, and completed the coursework for his PhD. He became the manager of the FMC Corporation plant in Vancouver, Washington. He met Laurel Jean “Lolly” Pithoud on a blind date in Portland, Oregon. He and Lolly, who predeceased him in 1988, were married in September, 1955. He worked at FMC Princeton from 1963 until his retirement. In 1980 he became a patent attorney, attending law school at night at Seton Hall University while working full-time at FMC. He prosecuted 59 patents for FMC and argued before the U.S. Patent Court in Washington, D.C. After he retired in 1994, he volunteered for two decades as a courier at Princeton Medical Center.

He was a Renaissance man: a creative, innovative, and open-minded thinker who enjoyed intellectual and hands-on activities. He taught Lolly how to cook and was so proud that she surpassed his ability. His chocolate mousse cake was the preferred dessert at every family event. He enjoyed the Sunday Times crossword puzzle and the games of bridge, cribbage, and pinochle. He played golf and loved the beach. He designed and built furniture, caned chairs, made jam, invented things, sang in choirs, rode his bicycle to work, jogged, and was an avid gardener. He knew German and Russian in addition to PASCAL, COBOL, and Basic, and wrote emails to his children and grandchildren in the areas of history, math, and science. Tracing the family genealogy was an interesting quest, from present day back to 1066. He was a member of All Saints Church in Princeton. He is survived by four children: Jennifer L. Elden Mischner, Dr. Lisa M. Elden, Christopher E. Elden, AIA, and Mary Rebecca Hutchins, their spouses, and ten grandchildren.

A memorial service will be held at 5 p.m. on March 19, 2016 at All Saints’ Church, 16 All Saints’ Road, Princeton, NJ 08540. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to Princeton Hospice, 88 Princeton Hightstown Road, Suite 202, Princeton Junction, NJ 08550 or online at www.princetonhcs.org.

———

Stuart VanVranken Willson Jr. 

Stuart VanVranken Willson Jr., who was born on April 25, 1931 and was a long-time resident of Princeton, died peacefully at home on March 2, 2016, of natural causes. He was 84 years old.

Stuart was the beloved husband of Amelia Murchio Willson, to whom he was married for more than 25 years. He was born in La Crosse, Minnesota, the youngest child of the late Marie Carlson and Stuart Willson, Sr., who was the CEO of the Northern States Power Company, Minnesota’s largest electric utility.

The Willson family moved to Montevideo and then Faribault, Minnesota, where Stuart became the Minnesota state high school golf champion, won Fuller Brush Company sales awards while still a teenager, and graduated as high school class valedictorian. He worked as a ditch digger during school summer breaks, a job he said taught him the importance of a good education, which he pursued at Yale. During his freshman year there, the Willsons relocated to Eau Claire, Wisconsin, and Stuart spent his summers home working on the Great Lakes ore carriers, ferrying coal across Lake Michigan.

After graduating with an engineering degree from Yale and an MBA from the Harvard Business School, Stuart became a direct commission officer in the U.S. Army. Envisioning a posting abroad for himself, he was instead posted to Fort Dix, New Jersey. His disappointment with his posting was short lived. As a young lieutenant he was responsible for the payroll of the entire base, and he developed lifelong friendships with other finance officers. Those years of Army service gave him responsibilities and opportunities almost unknown to someone in his early 20s. He thrived and looked back on those years as some of the most formative of his professional life.

After being honorably discharged from the Army, Stuart began his business career as an engineer but eventually recognized his professional calling was in sales. He joined Princeton’s CUH2A, and with a small group of partners, built it into what became New Jersey’s second largest science and technology architecture and engineering firm, at the time specializing in architecture for pharmaceutical research and manufacturing. After retiring from CUH2A, Stuart became a sales executive for the Philadelphia firm of Kling Stubbins, from which he retired in 2013.

An avid golfer, he was a member of Springdale for many years and eventually joined Bedens Brook. He won a number of club championships during those years. In 1990 when he married his second wife Amelia, a technology strategist from Manhattan, he taught her to golf, and they often played 9 holes together after work. She and a friend witnessed his hole in one on the 9th at Springdale.

Stuart was also a member of the Nassau Gun Club for many years and for several years was also a member of the Log Cabin Gun Club. He hunted in Botswana with Harry Selby, one of the great hunters of his day.

He is survived by Amelia, his daughter Wylie from his first marriage to Rosalie Richards of Princeton, his sister Joan Carver of Kalamazoo, and five nieces and nephews and their children from the Willson family.

He is survived by five sisters-in-law and five brothers-in-law and their children from the Murchio family. Stuart was predeceased by his son, Stuart Willson III, and by his sister Sally LaPierre of Wichita.

A Memorial Service will be held Saturday, March 19, 2016 at 11 a.m. at the Trinity Episcopal Church, 33 Mercer Street, Princeton. The interment will be private. Since flowers are not appropriate during the Lenten season, anyone who would wish to have sent flowers might like to make a contribution to Trinity Episcopal Church, 33 Mercer Street, Princeton, NJ 08540. Arrangements are by the Wilson-Apple Funeral Home, 2560 Pennington Road, Pennington. Condolences are welcome at www.wilsonapple.com.