Virginia Ahl Kyte

Virginia Ahl Kyte, cherished wife, mother, grandmother, and aunt, passed away peacefully on Wednesday, August 28th after a brief illness, safe in the knowledge that she was loved almost as intensely as she had loved her family and dear friends. She was 92.

Ginny Kyte was a smiling, lovely, faithful, and genuine force of nature. She loved the sand pipers of the Jersey Shore, the lupine fields of early summer in Maine, and any good sporting event, especially college football. She will miss the endless matches of this year’s U.S. Open, where she was routing for a strong finish from Coco Gauff. She baked cookies for every holiday, delighted in her grandchildren’s accomplishments and many adventures, and in her later years knitted over 100 blankets for babies and toddlers along the southern border. Being a wife and mother and grandmother defined her and her last days were filled with a sense of contentment. She carried happy memories of being a newlywed racing sailboats on the Shinnecock Bay to joy-filled years as a young mother on Ross Lane.

Her strong will was born from a family lineage she rarely voiced but included Dr. John Peter Ahl, a surgeon in the Revolutionary War; Dr. John Alexander Ahl, a U.S. Congressman from Pennsylvania; and five generations of graduates from Dickinson College in Carlisle, PA, dating back to 1875. One of those graduates was Jim Kyte, fresh off the GI Bill after WWII. He became the greatest love of her life when they married in the summer of 1949.

Preceded in death by her truly beloved husband, James Mathison Kyte, Jr., she is survived by her loving daughters Kimberly Kyte of Princeton and Jamie Kyte Sapoch and son-in-law John Sapoch of Hopewell, devoted grandchildren Emily and Jack Sapoch, brothers George W. Ahl, Jr. (Trumbull, CT) and Cary W. Ahl (Lancaster, PA),  along with a multitude of nieces and nephews.  Her family is grateful to the nursing staff and aides at Stonebridge who were a steady and constant lifeline of loving care in her final weeks.

A memorial service will be held Saturday September 28th at 11 a.m. at the Princeton University Chapel, Princeton, NJ. 

Arrangements are under the direction of the Cromwell-Immordino Memorial Home, 2560 Pennington Road, Pennington, NJ 08534.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks consideration of a gift in memory of Virginia Kyte be sent to Princeton University Chapel, Princeton University, Murray Dodge Hall, Princeton, NJ 08544. The Chapel, her place of worship for 20 years, has the great privilege to quickly respond to issues of pressing need, locally and across the country, in areas of social justice, disaster relief, refugee assistance and direct need. All gifts will honor her life.

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David Howard Dingle

David Howard Dingle, formerly of Princeton, was born on September 25, 1928, the youngest of four children, to Howard and Edith Dingle of Cleveland, Ohio, and Naples, Florida. He learned to play the piano at age 7, encouraged by his father, a Trustee of the Cleveland Symphony, under the tutelage of acclaimed teachers Boris Goldovsky and Arthur Loesser.

After graduating from University School in Shaker Heights, Ohio, David earned a B.A. in Economics at Cornell University in 1950. He was a member of the Freshman Lightweight Crew, Glee Club (accompanist for three years), Theta Delta Chi fraternity, Class Councils, and Sphinx Head Senior Honorary Society. 

He enjoyed tennis and squash, and in his lifetime was a member of the Merion Cricket Club in Haverford, PA, the Union League Club of New York, the Amateur Ski Club of New York, and the Pretty Brook Tennis Club of Princeton.

His business career started in sales and marketing with Scott Paper Company, with 12 years in retail sales, sales training, and product management. During this time he lived in Haverford, PA, where he raised three children. In 1957, he was appointed Coordinator of Marketing for Scott Paper Company’s partnership with Bowater Paper Company, introducing soft paper products to the U.K. Market. He lived for three years with his family in London for this assignment.

In 1964 he moved to New York and opened a travel agency, Peter Paul and Dingle.  Later he became one of the first financial planners to achieve Certified Financial Planner status. During this time he in lived in Princeton, NJ, where he raised a second family. He developed Bridge Energy with Henry McDonald, and later became a Mortgage Broker when he returned to New York in the 1980s, where he lived until he retired in 2003 and moved to the North Fork of Long Island.

But perhaps more importantly, whatever his “day job,” he was rarely without a “night and weekend job” as a jazz piano player — continuing well into retirement. He also sat in with jazz masters such as George Shearing, Lee Evans, and Kirk Nurock.

David is predeceased by his parents, his brother John Dingle, and his sisters Janet Kent and Laura Dingle. He is survived by his wife Susan Grathwohl Dingle; his children Michael of San Francisco, Leslie (Kevin Reilly) of Ithaca, and Jeffrey (Susan Poor) of Marblehead, with his first wife Elizabeth Severinghaus Warner; Christopher (Constance) of Toronto and Mark (Jacquelyn) of New York, with his second wife Celia Drayson Ryan; and 11 grandchildren, as well as many nieces and nephews. He is also survived by his stepson Jake Koprowski (Natalie) and their six children.

A Memorial Service of Witness to the Resurrection will be held at First Presbyterian Church of Southold on Saturday, September 14, at 12 noon, with a reception to follow. Interment will take place at Lake View Cemetery in Cleveland in spring, 2020.

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Henry Joel Powsner

Henry Joel Powsner, age 90, died August 12, 2019, peacefully and surrounded by family.

Henry was born to Solomon Powsner and Sarah (Sylvia) Rosenberg on March 30, 1929, and grew up in Hewlett, Long Island. He attended Woodmere High School, Princeton University, and MIT, earned an M.D. from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, completed his residency at Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center, and was certified by the American Board of Radiology and the American Board of Nuclear Medicine.

His high school years were punctuated by creative exploits, such as putting a homemade chemical paper into the classroom pencil sharpener, causing startlingly loud interior explosions when used, and running a thin tube under his mother’s tablecloth to drain wine from Elijah’s glass. At Princeton, he cleverly circumvented the prohibition against pet dogs, cats, or rodents by keeping a baby alligator in his bathtub and was finally asked to live off campus after proudly demonstrating to a proctor how he had set off a fire alarm without breaking the glass rod.

While living in Boston, he met Dana McPeak. He quickly determined she was the love of his life and they married three months later.

From 1960 to 1966, Henry served as an Air Force physician, first at Eglin in Florida and then at Burderop and South Ruislip in England. Henry’s move across the Atlantic with Dana and their three daughters was only the second time he had left the U.S. That began a lifetime of international travel that took them to six of the seven continents. 

In 1966, they returned to Princeton, where they spent the rest of their lives. He worked as a radiologist, in later years specializing in mammography, until his retirement in 1997. He was active in local and state government and in the community, including service on the boards of the Princeton Regional Schools, NJ Commission on Radiation Protection, Princeton Board of Health, Physicians for Social Responsibility of Central NJ, Princeton Community Democratic Organization, Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Princeton, and Princeton Memorial Association.

Henry was generous with his knowledge on many subjects and especially appreciated for his ability to help people understand difficult medical choices. He spoke out and took action in support of right behavior in domains as varied as public safety, the environment, consumer protection, silly retail policies, and how to run a meeting, always with a sense of proportion and humor. He will be remembered fondly for his legendary knowledge of Robert’s Rules of Order and grammar, being able to build and fix almost anything, visiting every friend in the hospital, and his love of gadgets, tools, and puns.

His last days were peaceful, with visits from close friends and relatives, cared for by the staff at Acorn Glen, Princeton Hospice, and his family. 

His wife, Dana, and his brother, Edward, predeceased Henry. He is survived by his daughters (Kim Corfman, Shelley Powsner, and Laurie Powsner), sons-in-law (Stanley Corfman, Steve Skrovan, and Jonathan Krejci), and grandchildren (Abigail and Daniel Corfman, Samuel and Julia Skrovan, and Benjamin and Jesse Krejci). 

A memorial service will be held on September 28, 2019 at 1 p.m. at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Princeton, 50 Cherry Hill Road, Princeton, NJ 08540.  Donations can be made in Henry’s name to: UUCP (address above), Star Island (30 Middle Street, Portsmouth, NH 03801), and the Princeton Hospice Program (5 Plainsboro Road, Suite 365, Plainsboro, NJ  08536).

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Harvey Daniel Rothberg

Harvey Daniel Rothberg, 90, died August 18 at the Penn Medicine Princeton Medical Center, Plainsboro.

Born November 17, 1928 in Plainfield, he was the son of the late Harvey and Helen (Rosenberg) Rothberg.

He grew up in Plainfield, graduating from Plainfield High School. Attending Princeton University, he graduated magna cum laude in 1949. He then entered Harvard Medical School, where he graduated cum laude in 1953.

Medical internship and residency followed at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. He later served as captain in the U.S. Medical Corps in the department of hematology at Walter Reed Hospital in Washington, D.C. Dr. Rothberg later returned to Massachusetts General for a senior residency.

His distinguished medical career at the Princeton Medical Group began in 1960 as a doctor of internal medicine, specializing in hematology and oncology. He was among an early group of physicians to become board certified in the field of medical oncology. During his 40-year career in Princeton, he served as president of the medical staff at Princeton Hospital, and as president of the Oncology Society of New Jersey.

Dr. Rothberg also served on the hospital’s Biomedical Ethics Committee until June of this year, and helped write the hospital’s version of a Living Will. Motivated by his lifelong interest in education and sharing knowledge with others, he was Clinical Professor of Medicine at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, and served as the first president of the Princeton Regional Board of Education after the Borough and Township merger.

Dr. Rothberg wrote successive books documenting the history of Princeton Hospital: The First Fifty Years: The History of Princeton Hospital, 1919-1969, and 25 years later, The First Seventy-Five Years: A History of the Medical Center at Princeton 1919-1994.

Upon his retirement in 2000, he was acknowledged with deep gratitude by the Princeton Hospital medical staff for his outstanding contributions to the medical community.

Dr. Rothberg was an ardent “Princeton Tiger,” proudly marching in the annual Princeton University P-rade, and most notably chairing his Class of ’49’s 70th reunion this past June. Football games, campus lectures, and cultural activities energized his life.  He was a longtime member of The Nassau Club, The Old Guard, and Springdale Golf Club.

He was also an avid gardener, botanical print collector, and deeply appreciated his books and library. His travel itineraries included visits to the architectural and cultural capitals of the world.

He was proud to serve as a docent at the Princeton University Art Museum for 19 years. In 1994, he curated an exhibit at the Princeton University Firestone Library, titled “Masters of Botanical Art” based on his own botanical print collection.

After his retirement as a physician, he continued to share valued medical advice with family and friends.

Dr. Rothberg is survived by his wife Nancy of 46 years (to the day), his youngest daughter, Nancy Barnes (David) of Chatham, NJ, and their daughters Charlotte and Madeleine, who brought great joy to his life. He is also survived by two older daughters from a previous marriage, Elizabeth Rothberg of New York, N.Y., and Marjorie Rothberg of Wilmington, Del., and his brother, John Charles Rothberg (Diane) of Madison, VA.

He was predeceased by his siblings, Anne Carolyn Reed, Nancy Lee Pierson, and Louis Nathan Rothberg.

Dr. Rothberg will be remembered for his sense of humor, empathy, dedication to his patients, profound work ethic, and great love of family. The recipient of many honors, he was awarded The National Conference of Christians and Jews Greater Princeton Area Humanitarian Award in 1996.

A private burial took place at the Princeton Cemetery. A public celebration of Dr. Rothberg’s life will be held at the Princeton University Chapel on Saturday, September 21, at 3 p.m.

Dr. Rothberg was a great believer in giving back. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to any of the following organizations: The Princeton Area Community Foundation, Doctors Without Borders USA, the American Cancer Society, or a cultural organization in the area of art or horticulture.www.matherhodge.com.

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Nancy Carole Schaefer

Nancy Carole Schaefer, 74, passed away at her home in Princeton on September 1, 2019, after a period of illness, in the company of her loving family.

Nancy was born in Newark, NJ, on February 1, 1945, the only daughter of James and Margaret Schaefer. She grew up in Plainfield, NJ, attended the Hartridge High School, and graduated from Marymount University in Tarrytown, NY, with a BA in English in 1967.

She then attended the USC Film School to train as a sound recordist. She pursued a career in the film industry for several years, working on commercials, documentaries (including one in Nigeria and another in Zimbabwe), a feature film by an African-American production company, and on Frank Zappa’s film 200 Motels.

She moved to Princeton in 1976 to be married, and followed her media interests with work in publishing before becoming a mother in 1983. Around 1990 she began teaching art to incarcerated teens, first in programs funded by NJ State grants, and later as a full-time teacher at the NJ Training School near Jamesburg. Her last, ongoing, project is a documentary on Princeton sculptor Bob Jenkins.

Nancy was a devout and lifelong Catholic, and for several decades attended services at the Aquinas Institute as well as St. Paul’s Church in Princeton.

Nancy is survived by Kirk McDonald, her husband of 43 years; her two children, Alex McDonald and Owen Schaefer; and two grandchildren, Han and Rei Schaefer.

A gathering/wake will be held from 5-8 p.m., Wednesday, September 4 at the Kimble Funeral Home in Princeton, where some of her art will be on display.

Arrangements for a Memorial Service will be announced at a later date.

Please visit TheKimbleFuneralHome.com for updated information.