Obituaries 1/25/17
Jeremiah K. Reilly
Jeremiah K. Reilly, 88, beloved husband, father, and grandfather passed away peacefully at home on January 15, 2017.
Born in Hamden, Conn. in January 1929 to Alice Sullivan Reilly and David M. Reilly, Sr., prominent Connecticut attorney, Jerry attended Hopkins Grammar, LaSalle Military Academy and graduated from The Loomis School. A member of the class of 1951 at Kenyon College, he left in 1949 to pursue a career in show business in New York City. His tap dancing talent earned him a part in the revival of Where’s Charley with Ray Bolger. After successful previews in Boston at the Shubert Theater, he was drafted into the U.S. Army for the Korean War effort and, sadly, missed the Broadway run of the show.
Jerry married Ann Crotty in 1951, settled in Hamden and began night school in business at Yale. Without a degree, he took the Industrial Engineer test, passed, and thus began his career at Safety Car Heating and Lighting, H.B. Ives, and at Nucor, the birth of nuclear power, under Admiral Hyman Rickover. Later, in New York City, he was a management consultant for Booz Allen Hamilton, V.P. of acquisitions for Beech Nut Squibb, president of Table Talk Pies in Worcester, Mass. and back to New York City as president of Ward Baking Co. These jobs took the family to Ridgefield, Conn. and Sudbury, Mass before settling in Princeton in 1973. There, he turned to entrepreneurship and opened Halo Farm, Inc., in Lawrence in 1975, a microdairy specializing in beverages and ice cream. He then opened Halo Pubs and Halo Fete.
Jerry possessed a keen intelligence, a vibrant wit, and a kind generous soul. An avid tennis player, he once ranked number one in the Men’s 45 and over USTA Middle States.
Jerry was predeceased by his sisters, Alicia Reilly Walker and Grace Reilly Schuermann and his brother David M. Reilly, Jr. He is survived by his wife Ann Reilly; his four children, Kathleen Reilly Arnold, Brian Reilly, Mary Clare Mooney, and Eileen Reilly; grandchildren Lucy Arnold Gore, Megan and Logan Reilly, and Shannon and Schuyler Mooney; great grandson Ryder Jalbert; son-in-law Anson Mooney and grandson-in-law Nick Gore.
A memorial service will be held at St. Paul’s Church, Princeton on Saturday, January 28, 2017 at 11 a.m. Donations may be made to his favorite charity The Hole in the Wall Gang, a camp for children with cancer.
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Helen Smyers Spencer
Helen Smyers Spencer, 94, a 70-year resident of Princeton, died peacefully on January 9, 2017 after a long struggle with dementia. She was born in Norwalk, Ohio, on July 10, 1922, only child of William Henry and Mildred Schwab Smyers. She was raised in Milan, Ohio, birthplace of Thomas Edison, where she graduated with honors from Milan High School. She was first violinist in the Erie County orchestra and editor of the school newspaper.
Helen attended Miami University in Oxford, Ohio where she joined the Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority. She later attended the Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York to fulfill her dream of acting. As a volunteer, Helen taught swimming and lifesaving at Columbia University to nurses flying overseas in World War II. Helen was involved with the Camp Fire Girls in her youth and later worked at their New York headquarters.
Helen married the late James L. Spencer in 1945 in New York. Two years later, they moved to Princeton where they became members of Trinity Episcopal Church. Helen was a 50-year member of Trinity’s Altar Guild, a substitute teacher, and served as assistant to the rector at All Saint’s Church. She worked with the Diocese of New Jersey in Trenton and was employed at Trinity Counseling Service for 17 years until her retirement at age 81.
In her professional career, Helen was also a member of the staff at Firestone Library, Princeton University, The Flower Basket, and William Sword and Co. Helen was a past member of the Women’s Investment Club of Princeton, the Present Day Club, and was a Board Member of the Chapin School, Princeton.
Mrs. Spencer is survived by her children; Stanford H., of Belle Meade, Nancy S. and her husband Alan R. Rushton, Md., of Flemington; Linda S. and her husband Robert N. McClellan of Princeton Junction; and four grandchildren; Andrew S. and Daniel A. Rushton; and Cassandra H. and Garrett B. McClellan.
Helen was deeply loved and respected; her warmth, caring, strength, smile, bright blue eyes, and giving of herself will be missed by all who have known her. She had a strong faith and an always-positive outlook. Helen enjoyed the outdoors and nature, and spent many summers in her youth as a counselor at camps in Ohio and Vermont teaching riflery, swimming, and directing the drama and theatrics programs.
Her family wishes to express heartfelt gratitude to the aides, caregivers, and medical staff who made her last years more comfortable.
A celebration of Helen’s life will be held at 11 a.m. on February 24, 2016 at Trinity Episcopal Church, 33 Mercer Street, Princeton, NJ 08540.
Interment will take place privately in Milan, Ohio this summer.
Gifts in Helen’s memory may be made to: Trinity Counseling Service, 22 Stockton Street, Princeton, NJ 08540 or TrinityCounseling.org/Donate.
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John Winterbottom
John Winterbottom died January 15, 2017 in Skillman with his family by his side.
Born April 9, 1921 in London, Ontario, Canada, John (aka Jack) came to the United States on scholarship to study at Yale, where he earned his PhD in English literature. After teaching at Dartmouth and North Carolina State, he settled with his wife, Miriam, in Princeton and spent the rest of his career at Educational Testing Service. At ETS he worked on the Law School Admission Test and the Graduate Record Exam and developed an innovative arts testing program. His real passion, though, was the cello, which he played devotedly, and with wonderful skill, from age 9 to 90. An avid hiker and naturalist, he spent some of his happiest days at his cabin on a remote hilltop in Barnard, Vermont, part of a range appropriately called the Delectable Mountains.
After retiring, he volunteered as a docent at the Princeton University Art Museum and took much joy in introducing children to art. It wasn’t long before he’d immersed himself in a serious study of art. In his 80s he wrote a scholarly paper on Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, the great 18th century-painter of epic canvases. John’s wit, his gift for conversation, and his openness to people from all walks of life, brought delight to all who met him.
In his last years he suffered from dementia, but his sweetness and wry humor continued to shine through. The family would like to thank Veronica Carbon as well as the staff at Skilled Nursing at Stonebridge Montgomery for their compassionate care. Survivors include his son Richard and his wife Kay and daughter Devon, his son Daniel and his wife Carol and daughter Nina, and his daughter Julie and her partner Stephen. A memorial service may be held at a later date. Donations in John’s memory can be made to Trenton Community Music School at trentoncommunitymusic.org.
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Stephan Dean Sennert
Stephan Dean Sennert of Princeton died on January 8, 2017, one day before his 74th birthday, at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in Manhattan.
He had recently retired as president of F and S Distributors, Inc., a family-owned business started by his father and associates more than 50 years ago. The company, which has been located in Clifton, Whippany, and now Jackson, New Jersey, supplies hydraulic seals to many corporations nationwide.
Steve and his wife, Nancy McCarthy, moved to Princeton in 1993. They celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary last May.
He was born in Joliet, Illinois, on January 9, 1943 to the late Edmund Sennert, Jr. and Doris Newkirk Sennert. While he was a young child, the family moved to Pompton Plains, New Jersey, near where his parents had lived before World War II.
Steve was a graduate of South Kent School in South Kent, Connecticut, and Lafayette College, where he earned a BS in industrial engineering. He put that education to good use when he joined the Peace Corps in 1968. For two years he was a volunteer in Bolivia, where he assisted in the design and construction of water, road, and school projects.
Following his Peace Corps service, Steve moved to Fargo, North Dakota, to work at the Center for Economic Development at North Dakota State University for two years. There he was involved in helping to improve the lives and job opportunities of residents of rural counties and four Native American reservations, including Standing Rock.
While in Fargo, Steve married his first wife, Constance Card, in 1971. They moved to New Jersey in the early 1970s when he joined his father’s business, F and S Distributors, Inc., then in Clifton. They lived in Ironia for a few years, then moved to Flanders. Connie died in 1990.
In addition to his enjoyment of music — classical, international, jazz, swing, and American popular music of the 1920s, 30s, and 40s — Steve loved photography. While he lived in Flanders he worked as a photographer on weekends for Recorder Publishing Company, which publishes newspapers in north and central New Jersey. Two of his photos, which he printed in a darkroom in his cellar, won awards from the New Jersey Press Association.
In 1981, two of the photographs he took in Bolivia while in the Peace Corps were exhibited at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. They had won prizes for photographs taken by current and former Peace Corps members to mark the organization’s 20th anniversary.
In addition to his wife, Nancy, Steve is survived by his daughter, Doris Katharine Sennert of Los Angeles; her maternal grandmother, Caroline Wendt of Indianapolis; and his sister, Letitia Burdett of Flanders. Other survivors include his nephew, B. Stephan La Rose of Flanders; his niece, Georgiana Sennert of Lake Hopatcong; his stepbrother and business partner, James F. King of Lakewood; and his stepsister, Carol Ann Bray of Marietta, Georgia.
Steve was a member of the local senior citizens organization Community Without Walls.
His family plans to have a memorial gathering in the spring to celebrate his life. Nancy appreciates the assistance and services of the Frank E. Campbell funeral home in Manhattan. Those wishing to make a donation in Steve’s memory are encouraged to contribute to the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.
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Harriet Baldwin Bryan
Harriet Baldwin Bryan passed away on January 1 in Whitefish, Montana surrounded by her family. She was born in Berlin, N.H. on July 31, 1931 and grew up in Hillsboro, N.H., where she attended a one-room school in Hillsborough Center. After a year (with relatives in Sweden), she attended Northfield School in Northfield, Mass. and graduated from Wellesley College in the class of 1954. After teaching in the Essex, Conn., public schools for two years she married Kirk Bryan and moved to Cambridge, Mass., where her husband was a graduate student at MIT. In Cambridge, she taught at Buckingham School. Harriet and her husband spent a postdoc year in Sweden, where they were welcomed by many relatives. Harriet was already fluent in Swedish. During that year in Stockholm, their first baby, Betsy, was born in Karolinska Sjukhus. Returning home the family lived for two years in Woods Hole, Mass., where Harriet had a second child, Samuel. The family then moved to Virginia outside of Washington D.C., where her husband worked as an oceanographer at the Weather Bureau.
During her eight years in Virginia, Harriet became an active member of the League of Women Voters, and participated in a narrowly won referendum on Public Housing in Fairfax County. After moving with the family to Princeton in 1968, Harriet again became active in the League of Women Voters. Later she was asked to be the League’s representative on the board of the nonprofit, Princeton Community Housing (PCH), which had already developed Princeton Community Village in the 1970’s. Being on the PCH Board allowed her to pursue her life long interest in affordable housing, which had been inspired in part by her two years in Sweden. She remained an active member of the PCH Board for over 20 years as a nearly full-time volunteer, serving as president and in a variety of committee assignments.
During Harriet’s tenure with PCH, she focused with other volunteers and staff — notably Eleanor Angoff. Sheila Birkhammer, Jim Floyd, Sandra Perchetti, and Ted Vial — on new initiatives to increase affordable housing in Princeton. Projects in which she was actively involved include Elm Court (1985), Griggs Farm (1989), and the Elm Court Extension (Harriet Bryan House, 2009). In the case of the Elm court extension there was a general consensus on the need for more affordable housing, but the choice of site was controversial, requiring endless meetings, court cases, and presentations to boards in both the Borough and the Township, which were then separate. Harriet’s consistent optimism, effective advocacy, and the financial aid of PCH supporters in the community were key factors in the long campaign to obtain final site approval. In recognition of Harriet’s efforts, PCH renamed Elm court Extension in her honor at the grand opening.
In 2003 Harriet and her husband moved to Stonebridge, a retirement community in Montgomery Township, where she was active on the Nursing Committee, in spite of increasing problems with her own health. Harriet is survived by her husband, Kirk Bryan; her daughter, Betsy Kohnstamm of Whitefish; her son, Samuel Bryan of Seattle, Wash; and two grandchildren, Mary Kohnstamm of Bozeman, Mont.; and Carl Kohnstamm of Squamish, B.C.
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Minerva H. Reed
Minerva H. Reed, 67, beloved mother and grandmother passed away in her home unexpectedly on Monday, January 16, 2017. Born in Charleston, S.C. she lived in the Princeton area since the late 70’s.
After graduating with a Bachelor’s degree from Douglass College and two Masters Degrees from Columbia University, Minerva became the first female and African American Director of Career Services at Princeton University.
Minerva is survived by her father Joseph Harris, her two children Razwel Brown and Calvin Reed III, and her grandson Shuler Brown.
A Memorial Service will be held at 11:30 a.m. on Saturday, January 28, 2017 at the Witherspoon Presbyterian Church, 124 Witherspoon Street, Princeton followed by a repast at the Carl A. Fields Center for Equality and Cultural Understanding, 58 Prospect Avenue, Princeton, NJ. Please do NOT wear dark colors. It’s a celebration of life. Arrangements are by Watson Mortuary Service Inc., 26 Gifford Avenue, Jersey City, NJ.
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Robert Carter Miller Jr.
Robert Carter Miller Jr. passed away peacefully at Acorn Glen in Princeton on January 5, 2017. Bob was born July 1, 1936, in Huntington, N.Y., to Robert Carter Miller and Mildred “Moo Moo” Baylis Miller, and was a resident of New Jersey for most of his life. He was married twice, first to Sandra Schuessler Miller and then to Ruth Gibson Miller.
He spent his early life in Princeton, where he attended Nassau Elementary School and Princeton Country Day School before advancing onto the Taft School in Watertown, Conn. He followed in the footsteps of his father and grandfather by attending Princeton University, graduating in 1958 with a BA in English. During college, Bob played freshman soccer and was a member of the swim team for two years. He sang in the University Chapel choir and was a member of Tower Club.
After two years in the Army stationed in Fort Polk, La., Bob began his professional life as a teacher. He taught for the next 20 years as a Middle School teacher and soccer coach at the newly formed Princeton Day School. He took great pride in the final chapter of his teaching career — learning sign language and working at the New Jersey School for the Deaf in Ewing until his retirement.
Bob was a nature enthusiast and had an encyclopedic knowledge when it came to identifying flora and fauna. He was deeply passionate about history, especially the history of Native Americans. He treasured finding arrowheads, spearheads, and even an ax on the former Lenni-Lenape encampment near his boyhood home.
He loved to walk his dogs in the Institute Woods and was fond of camping and hiking in Stoke State Forest and Sunfish Pond. He worked with inner city children at the Princeton Summer Camp in Blairstown and kept in touch with the program through the years. It was always a source of joy for him.
Bob enjoyed a very active social life, attending Scottish Country Dance classes in the local area for over three decades.
He loved all things Princeton. He was an active member of the Princeton University Chapel and was a supporter of Princeton University athletics, with his favorites being football, men’s hockey, men’s lacrosse and men’s soccer. Bob was well traveled and trotted the globe from Asia, Africa, South America, and Europe.
Bob is survived by his daughter, Ann Paiva; son, Andrew Brewster Carter Miller; grandson, Alexander Joachim Paiva; granddaughter, Sophie Joachim Paiva; and his sister, Nancy Baylis Miller. He is predeceased by his daughter, Fiona Gibson Miller and brother, Thomas Brush Miller.
A memorial service for Bob will be held on Sunday, Feb. 12, 2017, at the Princeton University Chapel at 1:30 p.m. followed by a reception at Murray Dodge Hall, Princeton University, at 3 p.m. Interment will be private. Memorial donations can be made in Bob’s honor to the Princeton-Blairstown Center. http://princetonblairstown.org/donate-now.
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Ann France Freda
Ann France Freda, 89, died January 21, 2017 at University Medical Center of Princeton at Plainsboro surrounded by her family. Mrs. Freda, a longtime resident of Princeton, was a RN working on the surgical floors A-1, A-3, and J-6 of Princeton Hospital. While on A-1 she was promoted to Head Nurse, that title was changed to Nursing Care Coordinator (NCC) years later. Mrs. Freda had a stellar reputation and was known to run a tight ship with excellent patient outcomes; she was loved by her patients and respected by physicians, nurses, and other hospital staff. Many members of her former nursing staff credit her with instilling in them the importance of patient care, treating every patient with dignity and respect. Mrs. Freda went back to school at the age of 51 to earn her BS degree. She retired in 1997 as the NCC of J-6. In retirement Mrs. Freda participated in the Grandpal Reading Program at Littlebrook Elementary School serving as a Grandpal for many children, including two of her own grandchildren. She was a longtime parishioner of St Paul’s Catholic Church.
Mrs. Freda was born on March 31, 1927, in Scranton, Pa., to Gertrude and Stanford France. Mrs. Freda graduated from St. Mary Hospital School of Nursing in Scranton before moving to Princeton in 1951 to start her nursing career at Princeton Hospital. She was married in 1951 and raised three children in Princeton. Mrs. Freda is survived by her children, Maureen Freda Peterson and husband, William Peterson, of Bowie, Maryland; Kathy Freda of Olympia, Washington; Mark Freda and his wife, Beth Ogilvie Freda, of Princeton; her beloved grandchildren, Brandon Boyd of Aliso Viejo, California; Dawn Boyd of Billings, Montana; and Rebecca and Alex Freda of Princeton. She is also survived by her sister-in-law, Rosemary Roberto, of Hamilton, New Jersey and many nieces and nephews. She was predeceased by her parents and her dear sister, Barbara France Dunne of Manassas, Virginia.
Contributions in her memory may be made to: Princeton HealthCare System Foundation and directed to the Annual Fund, Hospice or any other department at Princeton HealthCare System Foundation, 3626 US Route One, Princeton, NJ 08540.
A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated 9:30 a.m. on Thursday, January 26, 2017 at St. Paul’s Church 216 Nassau Street, Princeton.
Burial will follow at the Princeton Cemetery.
Friends may call on Wednesday, January 25, 2017 from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the Mather-Hodge Funeral Home 40 Vandeventer Avenue, Princeton.
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Ruth S. Houck Borgia
Ruth S. Houck Borgia, 96, daughter of Bethenia and Ernest Stout died at her home in Lawrence Township on Tuesday January 17, 2017.
Ruth is survived by 7 children Shirley Houck, Harry Houck, Robert Houck, Carol Ciarlone, Richard Houck, Ruth Donhauser, and Jeffrey Houck. She is also survived by 17 grandchildren, 24 great grandchildren and 4 great-great grandchildren.
Ruth worked at the New Jersey Department of Transportation, Division of Motor Vehicles. She had several hobbies that she thoroughly enjoyed throughout her life that included knitting, crocheting, weaving, and growing roses. She was a member of the Philadelphia Grand Opera Company and the Oratorio Choir at Germantown First Presbyterian Church in Germantown, Pa.
A Memorial Service will be held on Saturday, January 28, 2017 at 1 p.m. in the Kimble Funeral Home, 1 Hamilton Avenue, Princeton, NJ 08542 followed by interment at Kingston Cemetery, Kingston, NJ.
Friends may call Saturday from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the funeral home.
Extend condolences and remembrances at TheKimbleFuneralHome.com.
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Kenneth George Negus
Kenneth George Negus, 89, of Ewing passed away suddenly at his residence on Friday, January 20, 2017.
Born in Council Bluffs, Iowa, he lived in Princeton for many years before his recent move to Ewing.
He earned his PhD from Princeton University and taught graduate level German literature at Princeton University, Harvard University, Northwestern University, and Rutgers University.
Kenneth served in the U.S. Army in Germany after the end of World War II. He co-founded the Astrological Society of Princeton and was its president for 44 years. He published Johannes Kepler’s astrological writings, wrote poetry, loved to garden and cook, take walks, sing, and play classical guitar.
He was predeceased by his first wife, Joan Negus in 1997. Surviving are his wife Carol Raine, a daughter and son-in-law Niki Giberson and Gary (Port Republic, N.J.), two sons and daughters-in-law; Chris Negus and Sheree (Manchester, N.H.) and Jon Negus and Jacque (Palatine, Ill.); 8 grandchildren and 10 great grandchildren.
Visiting hours at the funeral home are Friday, January 27, 2017 from 7 to 9 p.m.
Funeral services will be held at the Kimble Funeral Home, 1 Hamilton Avenue, Princeton, NJ on Saturday, January 28, 2017 at 3 p.m. followed by burial at Fountain Lawn Memorial Park in Ewing, NJ.
In lieu of flowers, contributions can be made to the Astrological Society of Princeton. Please make checks payable to ASP c/o D. Orr, 14 Ravine Drive, Matawan, NJ 07747.
Extend condolences and share memories at TheKimbleFuneralHome.com.
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Emily L. Bennett
Emily (“Elva”) Langford Bennett died peacefully Wednesday January 22, at her home at St. Mary’s Assisted Living in Lawrenceville at age 93.
The daughter of the late Francis Daly and Vera Sweeney, Emily was born and raised in St. Paul Minnesota and attended St. John’s School and Hamline University. She worked for the U.S. Armed Forces Radio Service in Vienna after World War II and studied opera with renowned Austrian opera singers Fritz and Louisa Krenn. Following her marriage to fellow American Frank Bennett, the couple returned to the United States while Frank completed his studies at MIT. They eventually settled in Lawrenceville in order for Frank to take a position as director of engineering at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory. In addition to raising three children, Emily worked as an administrative assistant for the Princeton University Alumni Council for almost 25 years.
Following her University retirement, she worked as private secretary to emeritus physics professor John Archibald Wheeler, who acknowledged her assistance in his autobiography Geons, Black Holes, and Quantum Foam: A Life in Physics.
A lifelong bibliophile she was a member of the Bronte Society, the St. Andrew Society, the English Speaking Union, and the Princeton Folk Music Society.
Emily loved to travel and thought nothing of jumping into the car with one or more family members for long, cross-country drives (camping along the way) to visit friends, family, places, or events anywhere in North America. She howled with wolves on Isle Royale, Michigan, watched polar bears in Churchill Manitoba, and hiked in Pangnirtung, Nunavit Territory. (She conceded the use of an airplane to reach places that did not have roads.)
A devoted mother and grandmother, she had a charm and positive energy that brightened the day of all who met her.
Preceded in death by her former husband and her son Dale James Bennett, she is survived by her daughter Nancy Bennett and grandchildren Neil and Ivor Havkin of West Windsor and daughter Emily Jane Bennett and grandchildren Sarah, Patrick, and Kathleen Neff of Golden, Colo.
A funeral mass is scheduled at the chapel at St. Mary’s Assisted Living, 1 Bishops Drive, Lawrenceville at 2 p.m. Saturday January 28th. In lieu of flowers, donations may be sent to Pet Rescue of Mercer, PO Box 2574, Hamilton NJ, 08690 petrescueofmercer.org.
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George Eugene Zeitlin
George Eugene Zeitlin, 86, resident of both New York and Princeton, and a leading tax partner at Chadbourne and Parke, and a former dean of the tax law program at New York University School of Law, died Jan. 19, 2017, after a four-month illness, with family and friends in close attendance. He was a vigorous and active man who played tennis twice a week, belonged to a bridge club, and did the New York Times crossword puzzle in ink every day. He was an enthusiastic world traveler who had most recently returned from a trip to northern Greece, and had a lifelong devotion to Judaism and Jewish learning. He greatly enjoyed his profession of tax attorney.
He was a partner at Chadbourne for 34 years and kept up a full client caseload until he became ill in the fall. He handled bet-the-company IRS audits for corporations and advised on mergers and acquisitions and tax issues facing high net-worth individuals.
“George was one of the true lions of the tax bar,” said Chadbourne tax department chair William Cavanagh, adding he was the firm’s lead tax partner in the 1980s and 1990s.
“George had a broad command of almost all areas of tax law, which is somewhat unique for a tax lawyer,” Cavanagh said. “He was a very gifted and creative problem solver. George could take the most complex tax problem and reduce it down to simple, understandable terms and then come up with a solution.”
Zeitlin began his career as a tax lawyer at Chadbourne in 1955 after graduating from Columbia Law School in 1953 and serving a tour of duty in the U.S. Army. He earned his LLM in Taxation from NYU in 1961. He briefly left Chadbourne to serve as deputy tax legislative counsel in the U.S. Treasury Department in the Kennedy and Johnson administrations.
Zeitlin returned to New York in 1966, serving as a full-time tax professor at New York University School of Law until 1982. He was an associate dean of the graduate tax division of the law school from 1975 to 1982, overseeing the school’s LLM program. While on the law school’s full-time faculty, Zeitlin was counsel to Chadbourne. He became a partner at the firm after stepping down as associate dean in 1982. He continued to teach part time in the school’s tax program until just a few years ago.
Zeitlin was attracted to tax law for the puzzles inherent in the practice, said his daughter, Judith. “He liked the problem solving and the abstract nature of the problem,” she said.
She added that her father was a “child of the Depression” and enjoyed having more than one job throughout his life. “He was a man of tremendous energy and dedication,” who was uninhibited and liked to tell jokes, she said. “He was a warm, gregarious guy who remembered all his students,” Cavanagh added, noting he frequently kept in touch with his former students who viewed him as a resource. “He was master teacher in that he would make sure young tax lawyers would understand all aspects of a transaction.”
His wife of 63 years, Froma Zeitlin (now emeritus), was Charles Ewing Professor of Greek Language and Literature and Professor of Comparative Literature in the Department of Classics at Princeton University (1976-2010). He supported her enthusiastically throughout the years in all her scholarly enterprises and took enormous pride in her accomplishments. George continued to spend weekdays in New York at his law firm and his weekends in Princeton, a town which he loved and where he made numerous friends, as he did everywhere he went throughout his life. They valued him among other virtues for his honesty, open-mindedness, empathy, legendary hospitality, and famous sense of humor.
George was born in Brooklyn, N.Y., on September 11, 1930, to Benjamin Zeitlin, a pharmacist, and Ruth Leiberman Zeitlin, a bookkeeper, who owned and operated their own pharmacy in several successive locations in Brooklyn and in the Bronx. He received his AB in 1951 from Columbia College, a JD in 1953 from Columbia University and LLM in taxation in 1961 from New York University.
He will be greatly missed by his wife, Froma; his children Jonathan, Ariel; and Judith (and son-in-law, Wu Hung); his grandchildren, Sam and Joshua Zeitlin, Lida Zeitlin Wu, and Eve Cooke; his step-granddaughter Nina Jiang and step-great-grandchildren Caitlyn and Lucas Kindij; as well as his brothers Richard and Paul. May his memory be for a blessing.
Donations in George’s name may be made to the Wallace-Lyon-Eustice Tax Fund at NYU at law.nyu.edu or the American Jewish World Service at ajws.org.