Alan Rauch

Alan Rauch, 70, of Princeton passed away peacefully on Saturday, March 1, 2025, at Penn Medicine Princeton Medical Center surrounded by his loving family.

He was born in Astoria, Queens, NY, on July 18, 1954, the youngest child of Grace and Julius Rauch. At a young age the family moved to Hollis Hills, Queens, and Alan was proud to call that home. Alan graduated from Martin Van Buren High School and later SUNY New Paltz with a BA in Biology. He then went on to obtain a Doctor of Medicine in Dentistry degree from Fairleigh Dickinson University in Teaneck, NJ. After completing a residency at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital (formerly Middlesex County Hospital), Alan established a solo dental practice in Somerset, NJ, where he treated patients for 40 years. Alan was beloved by his many patients, known for his kindness, generosity, and most of all skill as a “painless dentist.” Over the years Alan became active in the RV Tucker Gold Foil Study Group and passionate about the use of gold as a restorative dental material. In 2007, while still maintaining his private practice, Alan joined the faculty of Penn Dental Medicine as a Clinical Assistant Professor and held that position until 2021. His love of teaching was apparent to the many former students who continued to reach out long after their graduation.

In 1983 Alan met his future wife, Julie Bien, on a blind date set up by his brother-in-law Mark Sonnenshein. After a whirlwind courtship, Alan and Julie married on February 25, 1984. The couple welcomed their first child Rebecca in 1986, and she was quickly joined by brother Benjamin and sister Sarah. The family moved to Princeton from South Brunswick in 1990 and Alan resided there until the time of his death. Alan loved family life and was active for several years as a Little League coach for his son’s team. At Alan’s urging, the family traveled to many American national parks on their summer vacations. Alan loved the New York Yankees and accumulated a large baseball card collection. He was also an avid Lionel train enthusiast and spent many hours perfecting a home train layout. Over the years Alan used his carpentry skills on many types of home improvements and masonry jobs, with his crowning achievement being the Rauch family treehouse. Alan was very proud of his three children and never tired of hearing about their accomplishments. When the role of grandfather became his, Alan truly came into his own and reveled in spending time with Hannah, Emily, and Neil.

Alan is survived by his wife of 41 years, Julie Bien Rauch; his children Rebecca Rauch Hart (Benjamin Hart), Benjamin Rauch (Melissa Rauch) and Sarah Rauch; grandchildren Hannah Hart, Emily Hart, and Neil Rauch; sister Linda Sonnenshein; brother David Rauch (Evelyn Rauch); brothers-in-law Jeffrey Bien (Heather), Joseph Bien (Juel), David Bien (Maggie) and Andrew Bien (Betty); many nieces, nephews, grandnieces and grandnephews; as well as a vast number of friends who supported him over the years. When Alan was diagnosed with a severe medical condition in 2021, several friends, Michael Mann, George Lane, and Robert Twomey, made sure that he continued to live life. Alan is predeceased by his parents Julius and Grace Esther (Katz) Rauch, and brother-in-law Mark Sonnenshein.

A Visitation will be held from 10:30 to 11 a.m. on Thursday, March 6, 2025, at The Mather-Hodge Funeral Home, 40 Vandeventer Avenue in Princeton, NJ. A Funeral Service will follow at 11 a.m. A graveside service for immediate family will be held at the Princeton Cemetery. Friends are encouraged to join the family for a luncheon reception at the Nassau Inn, Princeton, at 12:30 p.m. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Myotonic Dystrophy Foundation (give.myotonic.org/campaign/622795/donate) or to the charity of choice.

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Sabry Joseph Mackoul

Sabry Joseph Mackoul, 84, reposed in the hope of the Resurrection on February 25, 2025, in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. A 40-year resident of Princeton, Sabry leaves behind a legacy of kindness, wisdom, and generosity, and many circles of people who loved him, admired him, and will miss him deeply.

Sabry Mackoul began his career in banking as a teller for United Jersey Bank, was selected for a management training program, and through his career rose to the upper echelons of bank management, at different times heading the retail and the commercial divisions and serving as president and CEO of United Jersey Bank, prior to a series of mergers and acquisitions. At the time of his retirement, Sabry was Senior Executive Vice President and member of the management team of Summit Bancorp, Summit Bank. He served on many professional and advisory boards, including as Chairman of the New Jersey Bankers Association. A Veteran of the Air Force reserve, Sabry was called to active duty and served through the Pueblo crisis.

Those who knew Sabry will know of his love for the game of golf. He was a longtime member of Trenton Country Club and also, after retirement, of the PGA National in Palm Beach Gardens. His love for the game led him to introduce many family members to golfing and to his vast collection of cast-off clubs. He took great joy playing with his daughter Stephanie and other family members in the annual St. Mary’s parish and Pennington School Alumni golf tournaments. His competitive nature and skill were legendary; younger golfers knew not ever to count out Sabry and his teammates. Sabry, aka “the assassin,” was a formidable force in tournaments.

Patriarch of the family, Sabry’s deep attachment to the Christian Orthodox faith was the foundation of his character, inspirational to the generations that follow him. He was raised by his parents Theodore and Nellie Mackoul in an Orthodox home, visited by bishops and patriarchs over many years. Sabry served in many church advisory and leadership roles, and at the time of his passing was a parishioner at St. Mary’s Antiochian Orthodox parish in Bay Ridge, New York.

Sabry leaves bereft his wife of 42 years Anne Glynn Mackoul, and his two daughters Candice Marie Mackoul (Ryan Flanagan) and Stephanie Anne Mackoul, as well as his sister Kathleen Mackoul Haselmann (Ralph Haselmann), his brother Theodore Ramsey Mackoul, many sisters and brothers-in-law, nephews, nieces, cousins and friends, one of whom described him as “a man with a heart so big, so generous and so full of life” who will be sorely missed.

Condolences were received on Monday, March 3, 2025 at Mather-Hodge Funeral Home, 40 Vandeventer Avenue, Princeton, NJ. The Orthodox funeral was served on Tuesday, March 4, 2025, at Mother of God Orthodox Church, 904 Cherry Hill Road, Skillman, followed by interment at Sts. Peter and Paul Cemetery, 1166 Millstone River Road, Hillsborough, NJ.

The family requests that, in lieu of flowers, donations in Sabry’s memory be made to either St. Mary’s Orthodox Church, 8005 Ridge Boulevard, Brooklyn, NY 11209, or Mother of God Orthodox Church, 904 Cherry Hill Road, Princeton, NJ 08540 or the American Diabetes Association, P.O. Box 7023, Merrifield, VA 22116.

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Nicholas T. Ryan

Nicholas T. Ryan of Princeton, New Jersey, and Downey, California, the eldest son of the late Mr. and Mrs. Francis Joseph Ryan of the Bronx, New York, and Princeton, New Jersey, passed away February 28, 2025.

He is predeceased by his former spouse, Michele M. Ryan of Princeton, New Jersey. He leaves behind daughter Kelly K. Ryan of Princeton, New Jersey; son Richard T. Ryan of Princeton, New Jersey; granddaughter Alexa Trani of Princeton, New Jersey; grandson Nicolas Trani of Toms River, New Jersey; nephew Christopher D. Ryan of Princeton, New Jersey, currently Brookeville, Maryland, and his spouse Rachel L. Ryan of Baltimore, Maryland, currently Brookeville, Maryland; grand nieces Katherine L. Ryan and Emma Lynn Ryan of Brookeville, Maryland; grandnephew Joshua D. Ryan of Brookeville, Maryland; and brother Geoffrey T. Ryan of Florida.

Mr. Ryan was a member of the Princeton High School Class of 1968. He graduated from the Pacific University in Forest Grove, Oregon in 1972, and Wichita State University, Kansas in 1979, and served in the United States Army from December 1976 – December 1979. Mr. Ryan was a Physical Education and English teacher with the Los Angeles Unified School District in Los Angeles, California, from 1987 to 2019.He retired in June of 2019. Additionally, Mr. Ryan worked for Cooper and Schafer Roofing and Sheetmetal Company in Princeton, New Jersey, for a number of years.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to The Little Sisters of the Poor, 2100 S. Western Avenue, San Pedro, California 90732. A Funeral Mass will be on March 6, 2025, 8:45 am. at Saint Dominic Savio in Bellflower, with interment following at Riverside National Cemetery at 11:15 a.m.

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Elizabeth Elferink Cayer
May 30, 1930 – January 6, 2025

Elizabeth (“Betsy”) Elferink Cayer, 94, of Princeton, NJ, passed away at her home on January 6, 2025. She was born in Rochester, NY, on May 30, 1930, the eldest child of Dutch immigrants John Henry Elferink and Jellina Anna (Van Niel) Elferink. Betsy grew up in Rochester, where she attended local public schools as well as the Eastman School of Music Preparatory Department, where she studied piano, harp, cello, theory, and music history. She received her A.B. (with honors) from Vassar College in 1952 and her A.M. in English from Harvard University in 1955.

While at Harvard, Betsy met and married David A. Cayer, a fellow member of the Graduate Student Council, in 1953. Betsy later taught English at the Winsor School and Beaver Country Day School in the Boston area. Shortly after their daughter Susan’s birth in 1958, they moved to New Brunswick, NJ, where Dave started his career as an assistant professor of political science (and later a university administrator in many roles) at Rutgers University, while Betsy continued graduate study at Rutgers.

Starting in 1965, Betsy taught English at the Hartridge School, an independent K-12 school for girls in Plainfield, NJ, where her talent for school administration led to her appointment as principal from 1968 to 1976. She then guided Hartridge through a school merger with a local independent school for boys, becoming the associate head of the newly formed Wardlaw-Hartridge School. (A second merger also occurred from the two schools’ affiliation: Betsy and Dave’s daughter Susan met her future husband, Robert Stout, during their high school years at the not-quite-yet-joined schools!)

Betsy later continued her career in education administration at the New Jersey Department of Higher Education, with roles in the offices of Senior Institutions, Academic Programs, Academic Affairs, and State University and Professional Schools. Subsequently, she managed a federal grant program for Bloomfield College. She also worked as an independent educational consultant until her retirement in 2005.

As a committed volunteer, Betsy served over the years as a board member for the Wardlaw- Hartridge School, Rutgers Preparatory School (where she became board president), and the White Mountain School. She also founded and managed the Plainfield/Westfield YWCA chapter of the TWIN Program, designed to honor and advance women in business and industry.

After 44 years in Plainfield, Betsy and Dave moved to the senior community of Princeton Windrows, where they were both active participants. Betsy served on multiple committees, including Finance, Transportation, and Buildings and Roads. One of her favorite roles was as a writer, copy editor, assistant editor, and ultimately, associate managing editor of the quarterly community magazine Windows on Windrows. She also found meaning and connection in the Great Books and Great Decisions discussion groups. She and Dave co-taught classes on a favorite playwright, George Bernard Shaw, both at Windrows and the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute of Rutgers University (OLLI-RU).

Betsy and Dave shared a love of the arts, going regularly to classical and jazz concerts, ballet, theater, opera, and museums. They particularly enjoyed arts-related travel, with a special place in their hearts for their annual trek to the George Bernard Shaw Festival and International Shaw Society Symposium in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario.

Betsy’s husband Dave passed away in November 2017. She is survived by her siblings Barbara Greenstein of Princeton, NJ, Dorothy Maples of Williamsport, PA, and George Elferink of West Orange, NJ; her daughter Susan Cayer (Robert Stout) of Madison, CT; grandchildren Amanda Stout (Kenzie Blondin) and Zachary Stout; and multiple nieces, nephews, and cousins. Betsy was incredibly loved and will be dearly missed by her family, friends, colleagues, and the many students whose lives she touched.

A celebration of life will take place at a later date. Contributions in her memory may be made to the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute of Rutgers University (olliru.rutgers.edu/donate) or to the Elizabeth E. Cayer Memorial Scholarship Endowment Fund at the Wardlaw-Hartridge School (whschool.org/endowment).

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Edith Neimark

Edith Neimark, 96, of Princeton Windrows, died on February 25, 2025.

Professor Emeritis of Rutgers University, and founder and longtime coordinator of the Graduate Program in Developmental Psychology, before becoming Chair of the Douglass College Psychology Department. She also taught at Tulane, Goucher, NYU, and the UNM, Albuquerque.

Edith is the proud author of Adventures in Thinking, as well as several edited books, chapters, and research articles on problem solving, memory, and formal operations thought. She was a fellow of AAAS, APA, APS, NY Acad. Sci., SRCD, and Sigma Xi.

Edith served as President of the Jewish Historical Society of Central Jersey and LWV Princeton. She was an amateur artist, and she was also involved with 55+ and CWW House 3.

She is survived by a nephew, David Bloom and his wife Amy of Mt. Airy, MD, and their son Derek.

A private graveside service was held on Thursday, February 27, 2025, at the Temple Beth-El Cemetery.

Arrangements under the direction of the Mather-Hodge Funeral Home.