Marie Vahlsing

Marie Christina Lambert Vahlsing, 95, of Robbinsville, New Jersey, died on March 22, 2022. Marie Vahlsing was born in Trenton, New Jersey on August 1, 1926. She married Fred Vahlsing Jr. in 1951 and divorced in 1974.

She attended Georgian Court College, a private Roman Catholic university in Lakewood Township, New Jersey, studying art and music. Her marvelous piano playing was always a joy at family gatherings — sight reading the music as requested. Through the 1960s she was involved with the Greater Trenton Symphony Orchestra Association, working on the “4 Arts Ball” for the New Jersey Museum and Culture Center. Marie Christina Lambert Vahlsing also enjoyed playing tennis and going to the movies.

She is survived by four of her five children, Christina Vahlsing of New Mexico, Frederick Vahlsing lll and Josephine Vahlsing of New Jersey, and Elizabeth Ross Vahlsing of Albany, California. Her son, Conrad Vahlsing, predeceased her. She is also survived by grandchildren Candace Vahlsing, Christopher Vahlsing, Marissa Vahlsing, Conrad Vahlsing, Derick Vahlsing, Drew Southern and Lucy Southern, as well as great-grandchildren Christopher Vahlsing, Mateo Zambrano Vahlsing, and Lucas Zambrano Vahlsing.

Interment was at St. Mary’s Cemetery, Hamilton, NJ, on July 23.

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Anne (Elizabeth) Rutman

Our dearest Anne (Elizabeth) Rutman passed away peacefully on Sunday evening, July 17, 2022, at her home in Belle Meade.

Anne grew up in Beloit, Wisconsin, where her grandfather Samuel Kapitanoff, and his three brothers, emigrated from Russia and founded and built a synagogue that recently celebrated its 110th anniversary. She graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a degree in business.

Anne began her career at Dayton Hudson and ultimately joined the wholesale children’s-wear apparel industry, including manufacturers American Argo and Nazareth Century Mills. She progressed to the position of Vice President of Sales and Merchandising. She met her husband Phil while flourishing in New York City, and that was the beginning of a beautiful 27-year union. Those who know Anne and Phil remain witness to their genuine, authentic love affair, single-mindedly devoted to each other’s happiness and welfare. In the height of her career, she gave birth to twin daughters Lily and Julia, her love for whom was so incredible that she chose to retire and raise them in Pennington.

Her passion for service never waning, Anne switched tracks to get more involved in The Jewish Center community and support her daughters’ artistic pursuits in their high school performing arts department. At The Jewish Center, she served a few years as President of Jewish Center Women and as a member of the Membership and School Committees, among many other service roles to share her love for her congregation. With the support and encouragement of her loving husband, she achieved her dream of a more intimate connection with God and became a B’nai Mitzvah at about the same time as her daughters.

No words could do her magnificence justice. Anne was at war with cancer for seven years, and she fought with everything she had. She was and will remain an inspiration to all who know her and know of her. She is survived by her husband Phil, her daughters Lily, Julia, the dogs Lola and Stella, her sister Elaine, and her brothers Art and Steve.

Funeral services were held on July 21 at The Jewish Center of Princeton. Burial followed in Ewing Cemetery in Ewing Township.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to: Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (mskcc.org), PO Box 27106, New York, NY 10087.

To send condolences to the family please visit Anne’s obituary page at OrlandsMemorialChapel.com.

Funeral arrangements were by Orland’s Ewing Memorial Chapel.

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Dr. Leon E. Rosenberg

Dr. Leon E. Rosenberg, a physician-scientist and medical geneticist whose pioneering research on inherited metabolic disorders in children led to the discovery of the biochemical basis of several disorders, and then to ways of diagnosing and treating them, died on July 22, 2022 at the age of 89. He is survived by his wife, Diane Drobnis; brother Irwin Rosenberg; four children, Robert Rosenberg, Diana Clark, David Korish, and Alexa Rosenberg; six grandchildren; and one great-grandchild.

Leon graduated from Madison West High School in 1950. He attended the University of Wisconsin and received his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1954 and Doctor of Medicine degree in 1957. He was a clinical associate at the National Cancer Institute from 1959 to 1962 and a senior investigator from 1963 to 1965.

He chose to become a medical geneticist in the early 1960s, when the field barely existed, and rose to become one of its most notable exemplars and mentors.

Starting as an assistant professor at the Yale University School of Medicine, Dr. Rosenberg was the first to recognize inherited disorders of vitamin B12, and to show that supplements of the vitamin in affected children could save their lives or alter dramatically the natural history of the disorders in them. This work led to his selection as the founding chair of a new department of Human Genetics at Yale which joined fundamental genetics and clinical genetics into a single unit. In 1984 he was appointed Dean of the Yale School of Medicine, and served in that capacity until 1991.

After 26 years at Yale, Dr. Rosenberg was appointed Chief Scientific Officer of the Bristol-Myers Squibb Company. Under his leadership the company discovered and developed pharmaceuticals in cancer, cardiovascular disease, AIDS, and infectious disorders. He left BMS in 1998 at the age of 65, at which point Dr. Rosenberg was appointed Lecturer at the rank of Professor at Princeton University in the department of Molecular Biology and in the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. After 16 years at Princeton, he worked as an upper school science teacher and scientist at the Princeton Day School until his retirement in 2018.

Dr. Rosenberg was elected to membership in the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1976. He was a member of the National Academy of Medicine and the National Academy of Sciences. He received honorary degrees from the University of Wisconsin and the Mount Sinai School of Medicine. He received the Kober medal in 2003 from the Association of American Physicians. He received the McKusick Award in 2011 from the American Society of Human Genetics.

Dr. Rosenberg’s professional career was also marked by comments he made about two matters of public importance: the abortion debate; and the underrepresentation of African Americans as students and faculty members in academic institutions.

He involved himself with the abortion issue by testifying in 1981 before a U.S. Senate subcommittee considering a bill whose aim was to overturn the Roe v. Wade decision handed down by the United States Supreme Court in 1973. Dr. Rosenberg, ardently pro-choice, said the following:  “We all know that this bill is about abortion and nothing but abortion. If this matter is so compelling that our society cannot continue to accept a pluralistic view that makes women and couples responsible for their own reproductive decisions, then I say pass a constitutional amendment that bans abortion…and overturns Roe v. Wade. But don’t ask science or medicine to help justify that course, because they cannot. Ask your conscience, your minister, your priest, your rabbi, or even your god because it is in their domain that this matter resides.” Dr. Rosenberg’s testimony, and that of other influential scientists, was responsible for the bill ultimately dying before it reached the Senate floor.

In 1988, while Dean of the Yale School of Medicine, Dr. Rosenberg delivered the address before the annual Graduate and Professional Assembly. He spoke about African Americans as an underrepresented, disadvantaged minority at Yale and other academic institutions. First, he presented powerful statistical evidence for disparities in income, employment, education, and a variety of parameters of health. After urging the assembled students to open their hearts and minds to the issue, Dr. Rosenberg said: “My generation has proven that it is incapable of making Martin Luther King’s dream a reality…Age has a way of bowing the head rather than squaring the shoulders. We need to be reinforced by you — the less scarred, less scared younger generation. You are the hope of our society. Together, but only together, perhaps we can lead our nation to a height it has never been for a view it has never seen.”

Services are private and under the direction of Mather-Hodge Funeral Home, Princeton.

In lieu of flowers, the family encourages contributions to your cause of choice in his honor.

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Nicholas Robert Cevera

Nicholas Robert Cevera, 76, a lifelong resident of Princeton, passed away on Friday, July 22, 2022 with his daughter Tracy by his side. He was the first of his five siblings to pass away. He was born in Princeton and graduated from Princeton High School in 1964. He met Randi Carlsen in high school and they we married in 1965. He was an entrepreneur and started Princeton Messenger Service at 19 years old and later became a successful real estate appraiser.

Predeceased by his parents Anthony Nichola and Mae Louise (Grewe) Cevera and son Brian Nicholas Cevera; he is survived by his two daughters Tracy Cevera and Gretchen Underwood, brothers Michael and Raymond Cevera, sisters Jacqueline Layton and Carol Gilbert, great-nephew Henry Layton, great-niece Autumn Layton, and many extended family.

Visitation will be held on Saturday, July 30, 2022 at 1 p.m. with a memorial service at 2 p.m. at The Mather-Hodge Funeral Home, 40 Vandeventer Avenue, Princeton, NJ 08542.

In lieu of flowers donations may be made to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

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John J. Kurtz

John J. Kurtz died on July 4, 2022 at his home in Princeton, NJ. He was born on January 14, 1933 in Nanticoke, PA, to the late Anna and John Kuruc.

John received a bachelor’s degree from Pennsylvania State University and a master’s degree from Columbia University. He spent his career working in the oil industry. He was an avid traveler; a multi-lingual admirer of culture, art, people, and places.

John is preceded in death by his parents, his brother Francis Kurtz, sister Johanna Augustine, and nephew Lloyd Augustine.

He is survived by his sister Monica Locke, nephew Lowell Locke (Judy), great-nephews Thomas Locke (Erin) and Andrew Locke (Amy), and great-great-niece Aubrey Locke.

A memorial was held for John at Mather-Hodge Funeral Home, Princeton, NJ, on Saturday, July 23, 2022. A private burial was held at St. Joseph’s Slovak Cemetery in Nanticoke, PA.

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Marianne M. Farrin

Marianne M. Farrin, 83, beloved wife, mother, sister, and grandmother, passed away in her home in Princeton, New Jersey, on Sunday, July 24, 2022.

Marianne was born in Berlin, Germany, on September 2, 1938. Her mother, Dagny Albertsen, came to Berlin from Denmark to pursue a singing career. Her father, Helmut Magers, was a journalist, and the two met following one of Dagny’s performances. They had two more children, Irene and Jürgen, who was born with Down syndrome. They were bombed out of their home numerous times, and eventually Helmut was drafted by the German army, and never returned from the war.  In 1944, fearing the Russian advance, Dagny fled to Denmark with her children, and they lived there with Dagny’s family until emigrating to the United States in 1954. 

Marianne went to Hollywood High School for two years, and despite being new to the language and to the United States, graduated as valedictorian of her class. She received a full scholarship to Stanford University, where she met her husband, James (Jim) Farrin, and they were married in 1960. They then lived in nine overseas countries for 17 years (Australia, Malaysia, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Thailand, Mexico, England, Switzerland, France), raising five children, before returning to the United States.

After her children had left home, Marianne decided to pursue a joint degree in Psychoanalytic Training from the Blanton-Peale Institute and a Masters in Social Work from Fordham University. She then worked as a therapist in New York City for many years. In 2000, after not having been on a bicycle since her youth in Denmark, at the age of 61, she decided to bike across the United States, from Seattle to Washington, DC, with the American Lung Association’s Big Ride. It was one of the highlights of her life.

In 2004, Marianne and Jim moved to Princeton, New Jersey, so she could pursue a Masters of Divinity from Princeton University which she received in 2007, at the age of 69. She ultimately turned her energies to writing her memoir, From Berlin to Hollywood and Beyond, which was published in 2018.

An avid traveler, adventurer, and scholar, she was also deeply devoted to her family and friends, loved writing, history, art, music, birds, and flowers, and while living in Princeton loved to walk around the town and university and visit the art museum. Her Christian faith was a central part of her life, and she was actively involved in the church and volunteered for numerous organizations, including hospice. Her strength, yet gentle and calm manner and beautiful smile will not be forgotten by those who were blessed to know her.

Sadly for her and her family, she was stripped of her ability to speak as the result of Primary Progressive Aphasia, which ultimately led to her death.

She is survived by her husband, Jim, of 62 years, as well as her five children, James Scott (Robin), of Hillsborough, NC; Jennifer Emerson (Scott Swerdlin) of San Francisco, CA; Raymond of Kuwait City, Kuwait; Melody of Pittsburgh, PA; Jonathan of Atlantic Beach, FL), eight grandchildren (Ellie, Scottie, Parker, James, Morgan, Tyler, Dagny, Amelia), and her sister Irene (Julian) Gingold and nieces and nephews. She is preceded in death by her father, Helmut Magers, mother, Dagny Albertsen Magers, and brother, Jürgen Magers.

Funeral arrangements are under the direction of Mather-Hodge Funeral Home in Princeton, NJ. Funeral service was held at the Princeton University Chapel on Monday, July 25, 2022. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that memorial donations be made to either Holy Redeemer Hospice (redeemerhealth.org), Global Down Syndrome Foundation (globaldownsyndrome.org), or Herrontown Woods in Princeton (herrontownwoods.org).

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Eileen Walsh Bradley

October 25, 1930 – July 16, 2022

Mrs. Eileen Rose Walsh Bradley, 91, of Skillman, NJ, died Saturday, July 16, 2022, surrounded by loving family at Stonebridge nursing home in Skillman.

Her mother, Margaret Brady Walsh, and father, Edward Patrick Walsh, were immigrants from County Cavan and County Waterford, respectively, in Ireland. Eileen was born in Morristown, NJ, on October 25, 1930, and grew up in Morristown, attending Bayley-Ellard High School and graduating in 1952 from St. Elizabeth’s College in Convent Station, NJ, with a B.S. in Biology. After graduation, Eileen was a laboratory technician at Ciba-Geigy in NJ. A lifelong lover and performer of dance, music, and song, she founded her own dancing and piano school in Morristown, NJ, during college.

In 1955 she married Dr. Eugene Bradley (1923- 2015) in Morristown, NJ while he was completing his internship and residency training in Obstetrics and Gynecology at Margaret Hague Maternity Hospital in Jersey City, NJ. After marriage Eileen and Eugene moved to Tacoma, WA, where Eugene served for two years in the U.S. Army as Chief of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Madigan Army General Hospital.

The couple subsequently moved to Bellaire, OH, and Wyckoff and Pompton Lakes, NJ, where Eileen raised five children while Eugene began private practice in Obstetrics and Gynecology. Always deeply involved with St. Mary’s Roman Catholic Church and Grammar School in Pompton Lakes, Eileen taught Irish step dancing, tap and ballet, and organized dance performances for the school. She sponsored concerts, piano master classes and guitar lessons for neighborhood families at home in Pompton Lakes. Her entrepreneurial spirit continued in the early 1970s when she became a Certified Childbirth Educator through ASPO, the teaching arm of the Lamaze Method of Education for Childbirth, and operated her own childbirth education classes for the community. She assisted hundreds of parents over the years with Lamaze childbirth techniques, remaining close with many of her pupils.

Eileen was introduced to Martha’s Vineyard during her childhood when her maternal aunt, Kathleen Brady, married Gordon Shurtleff, a native there, in the 1920s. Eileen spent many summers in Edgartown as a child and developed a great love of the island and its history, later instilling a love of the island in her own children and their families. After retirement, she was a docent for the Martha’s Vineyard Historical Society and Museum. It brought her great joy to spend time with her grandchildren in Martha’s Vineyard and NJ.

She spent her later years involved with the parish and choir of St. Charles Borromeo Catholic Community in Skillman. She is survived by five children and 11 grandchildren: son Brian and wife Jan Bradley and their children Kayla and Elena; daughter Eileen; son Patrick and wife Andrea Bradley and their children Nicholas, Connor, and Nora; son Dr. Sean Bradley and wife Dr. Karen DeSimone and their children Kyra, Ryan, Jason, and Evan; and son Brendan and wife Bridget Poole and their children Fiona and Anna.

A Mass of Christian Burial was held on July 19 at the Catholic Community of St. Charles Borromeo in Skillman, NJ. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to the Martha’s Vineyard Museum, 151 Lagoon Pond Road, Vineyard Haven, MA 02568, Attn: Heather Seger, Executive Director.

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Pauline Wood Egan

Pauline Wood Egan died peacefully at the age of 74 on July 11 which, perhaps emblematic of her unending dedication to husband William (Bill) C. Egan, was the date of their 52nd wedding anniversary. Pauline, known by her loving family as “Mu,” succumbed to cancer gracefully, surrounded by her children and grandchildren at their residence in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

Born to Arthur MacDougall Wood and Pauline Palmer Wood of Chicago on June 9, 1948, Pauline spent her childhood in Lake Forest Illinois and Pasadena California before attending Smith College.  After her graduation, she was married in Lake Forest, Illinois, on July 11, 1970 and then moved to the north coast of Honduras where her husband was working in the Peace Corps. She lived most of her married life in Princeton, New Jersey.

Pauline will be remembered foremost for her love of family which included five children and 15 grandchildren. She was the heartbeat of this family. They were her greatest source of joy, and the focus of her life and travels. She was the quintessential matriarch, treasured by all of her descendants as a limitless source of kindness, generosity, gentility, and warmth. Pauline enjoyed most being surrounded by family but also by nature, be it pink sunsets over the Gulf of Mexico or the wondrous wildlife of Jackson Hole. 

Pauline was known for her empathy and compassion for others, her unparalleled handwritten correspondences, and indefatigable desire to make others feel her genuine love through gifts and words. Pauline was adored by friends and family alike for her honesty and integrity, her brilliance and wit, and her ability to connect effortlessly and authentically with the young and the old. She was a prolific reader of books, a great student of history and the arts, a dedicated needlepointer, a world class shopper, the proud overseer for many a beautiful garden, and the unwavering caregiver for dozens upon dozens of animal companions throughout her lifetime. Pauline was generous with her time toward causes close to her heart, having served as the Chairwoman of the Board at Stuart Country Day School of the Sacred Heart, as a Trustee for Camp Kieve for Boys, as the Chairwoman of SAVE — A Friend to Homeless Animals and as a benefactor for various humanitarian and social service organizations.

Pauline’s enduring legacy will be one of togetherness and love. To her friends, she was a trusted and loyal source of advice and described as a master of compassion and love, whose footprints will remain on the souls she leaves behind. She was thoughtful, empathetic, creative, and articulate — for so very many, the perfect friend. She was magnanimous with her affection, support, and humor and she loved fiercely. To family, she was simply the center of everything. Annual calendar planning started and ended with “visits to Mu,” and Pauline managed to equitably spread her love and attention across so many adoring children and grandchildren which was her greatest gift to them. 

Pauline is survived by her husband William Egan; her children Katherine Egan Gilbane (husband Thomas), William M. Egan (wife Alisa), Janie Egan Bertelson, Timothy Wood Egan (wife Courtney), and Emily Egan Potts (husband Allen); as well as her grandchildren Chandler Pauline Gilbane, Thomas Freeman Gilbane IV, Hugh Calkins Gilbane, Brooks MacDougal Egan, William Pierson Egan, Henry MacDougal Bertelson, James Constantine Bertelson, William Egan Bertelson, Palmer Jane Egan, George Thorndike Egan, William Wood Egan, Benjamin Potter Egan, Allen Rives Potts IV, Taggart William Potts, and Lottie Jane Potts.

A Celebration of Life will be held in her honor this fall in Jackson Hole. In lieu of flowers, contributions in her honor can be made to the Teton Raptor Center or the Brain Chemistry Labs, both in Jackson Hole.