Rev. David H. McAlpin, Jr.

David Hunter McAlpin, Jr., born January 19, 1928, in New York City, died peacefully, surrounded by his four children on August 5, 2022, in Skillman, New Jersey after a long, full life.

Widely known as Mac, he was of the generation in which frugality was a virtue and sharing your blessings was a moral imperative. After earning a BA in History from Princeton University in 1950 and a MDiv degree from The Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York in 1953, he was ordained a Presbyterian minister in 1957 at Witherspoon Street Presbyterian Church, a predominantly African American church in Princeton, NJ. As Assistant Pastor he was in charge of youth ministry. While at Witherspoon, he earned his MTh from Princeton Theological Seminary in 1961. Moving to Michigan in 1963, he led a nascent parish in East Detroit until 1970, when he and his family returned to the Princeton, where he led churches in transition and counseled fellow pastors.

With Witherspoon’s Senior Pastor, Benjamin J. Anderson, Mac attended Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech in 1963 and took King’s lessons to heart. His lifelong efforts to forge a better world and a more just and desegregated society focused on providing housing to those in need and on prison reform work. In the 1950s he led efforts to establish integrated housing developments in Princeton. In 1986 he was a founder of Habitat for Humanity in the Trenton area, leading it for nearly 30 years. He also founded and was President of Capstone Corp., a nonprofit, low-income housing developer serving Mercer County communities.

He initiated and oversaw in-prison programs and counseling with the New Jersey Association on Correction, a nonprofit agency serving those impacted by crime and the criminal justice system throughout New Jersey, and with the Community Network, a prison ministry serving NJ.

Mac was deeply involved in the community in and around Princeton, where he lived for most of his life. Highlights are his service on the boards of the Stony Brook Millstone Watershed Association, a seminal environmental education and advocacy organization; the Princeton Blairstown Center, an outdoor education program serving at-risk youth from Princeton, Trenton, and other communities; the Historical Society of Princeton; the Witherspoon-Jackson Historical and Cultural Society; and the Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York. In his 80s and 90s, he was a founding board member of the Paul Robeson House in Princeton. His service to and attendance at Witherspoon Street Presbyterian Church spanned more than 65 years.

Modest in both size and ego, he was surprisingly strong and capable. He led a physically active life and loved ice skating, tennis, sailing, boating, and swimming in Chatham, MA, and in the Adirondacks, as well as working on his farm outside Princeton. He also loved wearing his McAlpin plaid kilt for special occasions, including his 90th birthday celebration, and was proud that he never outgrew it. 

The son of David H. McAlpin and Nina Underwood McAlpin, Mac was predeceased by both his wives, Joan R. McAlpin and Sally D. McAlpin. He was a much-loved moral beacon to his family — including his four children and their spouses, his four grandchildren, and two great-grandsons — and his friends and community.   

There will be a memorial service and celebration of his life at the Witherspoon Street Presbyterian Church, 124 Witherspoon Street, Princeton, NJ, on Saturday, October 8 at 11 a.m., to be livestreamed to Nassau Presbyterian Church, 61 Nassau Street. Reception at Nassau Church to follow service. Please attend at Nassau Church if you are ambulatorily challenged.

In lieu of flowers donations may be directed to Habitat for Humanity of Central New Jersey, 530 Route 38 East, Maple Shade, NJ 08052 or to the office address of Witherspoon Street Presbyterian Church, 112 Witherspoon Street, Princeton, NJ 08542.

———

John Paul D’Antonio

John Paul D’Antonio, 68, died on August 27, 2022 peacfully surrounded by his family in Doylestown, Pennsylvania, from cancer.

A native to the Princeton area he attended Chapin School, The Hun School of Princeton Class of 1970, and Lehigh Unversity Class of 1976. He also attend the Art Students League of New York and Rhode Island School of Design.

After graduating Lehigh University, where he majored in Art History, D’Antonio attended the Art Students League of New York, studying under Xavier Gonzales, who was a leading instructor known as much for his large murals as for mentoring students like Jackson Pollock and LeRoy Neiman.

John D’Antonio was an accomplished artist whose work represented a realistic interpretation of seascapes and landscapes. His art and philosophy have been shaped by influences as diverse as Academicism and the Photorealist painters of the 1970s. His work has been represented by a number of galleries worldwide.

John Paul D’Antonio is considered by some in the art world to be a leading representational artist in America today. His paintings reveal a remarkable eye for the telling detail united with a facility for composition, color, and light. The precision and clarity of his diverse scapes lend immediacy and impact to his paintings while capturing the energy and mystery of his subjects.

John also held a very accomplished career as global head consultant in the Life Science industry building multimillion-dollar pipelines from the ground up. He worked for numerous Fortune 500 companies in the metropolitan area throughout his life. John had many passions such as squash, hunting, and fishing in the great outdoors he has passed down onto his children that will carry on his legacy for many years to come. 

John is survived by his sister Ann D’Antonio and his four children, John D’Antonio, his wife Pam, and their two children Penelope and George of Sparta, New Jersey; Natalie Bryenton, her husband Alex Bryenton, their two children Mackenzie and Ryder of Asheville, North Carolina; Peter D’Antonio, his wife Amanda, and their two children Michael and Peter of Missoula, Montana; Blake D’Antonio, his mother Rebecca and Scott Smith of Doylestown, Pennsylvania. John is also survived by his three stepchildren Tabitha Rutkowski, Nina Rutkowski, and Phoebe Rutkowski of Doylestown, Pennsylvania. John is preceded in death by his mother Yolanda and father Mario D’Antonio.

John’s family would like to give their utmost appreciation to the Vitas Hospice team along with Rebecca and Scott Smith who opened their home to care for John through this difficult process.

Family will receive relatives and friends on Friday, September 2, 2022, from 12 to 1 p.m. at Our Lady of Czestochowa Cemetery, 654 Ferry Road, Doylestown, PA (travel through the cemetery gates to the end of the road, the Red Chapel is on the left). Followed by John’s Mass of Christian Burial at 1 p.m. 

In lieu of flowers donations can be made in memory of John P. D’Antonio to the American Cancer Society. Arrangements by Donahue Funeral Home, (215) 348-9421.

———

Mary Kathryn Moses

Mary Kathryn Moses, 66, passed away peacefully on August 28, 2022 at her home in Princeton, New Jersey.

She is survived by her loving husband of 26 years John, daughter Courtney Coyne, sister Lori Chaudhry, brother Christopher Knowles, mother Jeri Tomlin, and niece Sophie Chaudhry. She is predeceased by her father Richard Knowles.

Kathryn was born in Rantoul, Illinois. She graduated from Rantoul High School where she was senior class president.

She moved to Chicago in her early twenties where she worked in the jewelry business and also in the State’s Attorney’s office. She was married to her husband John Moses in 1996, and moved to Fox River Grove, Illinois, and later to Cary, Illinois. Kathryn and John moved to Princeton with Courtney in 2004.

Kathryn was known for her wonderful sense of humor, her quick wit, and engaging personality. She was passionate about family. The traditions she created for family birthdays and holidays will be a lasting legacy. She loved to garden and created the most glorious landscapes at her home. She rejoiced in observing and caring for the multiple animals and birds that were attracted to her floral beds.

Kathryn was active in a number of charitable organizations including Big Brothers, Big Sisters in Illinois and the Princeton Hospital Auxiliary where in 2010 she chaired the annual Art First funding campaign.

She will be greatly missed.

A visitation will be held at Mather-Hodge Funeral Home, 40 Vandeventer Avenue, Princeton 08542 on Saturday, September 3, at 2 p.m. followed by a service at 3 p.m.