Town Topics

Memorial Service for Elizabeth Dilworth

Samuel F. Bianco

Samuel F. Bianco, 70, of Princeton, died October 20 at the University of Pennsylvania Hospital in Philadelphia, Pa.

Born in Princeton and a lifelong area resident, he was a retired police captain.

He was a member of PIBA Local No. 130, a member of St. Paul's Church, and a collector of Lionel trains.

Son of the late Anthony and Elizabeth Simone Bianco, he is survived by his wife, Patricia; two sons, Samuel of West Windsor and Raymond of Princeton; two daughters, Janet Bianco of Lawrenceville and Carolyn Manning of Hopewell Township; a twin brother, Charles of Rocky Hill; and eight grandchildren.

The funeral will be at 8:30 a.m. Friday, October 24 at The Mather-Hodge Funeral Home, 40 Vandeventer Avenue.

A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at 9:30 a.m. Friday at St. Paul's Church, 214 Nassau Street. Burial will be in the family plot in Princeton Cemetery.

Calling hours will be Thursday, October 23 from 2 to 4 p.m.. and 7 to 9 p.m. at the Funeral Home.

Memorial contributions may be made to the University of Pennsylvania Hospital Cancer Research Department, 3400 Spruce Street, Philadelphia, Pa. 19104; or Princeton First Aid & Rescue Squad, 237 North Harrison Street, Princeton 08540.

David Coffin

David Coffin, 85, of Princeton, died of heart failure October 14. He was a longtime faculty member in Princeton University's art and archaeology department and an authority on Italian Renaissance garden and landscape design.

A native of New York City, he received an A.B. from Princeton in 1940 and, after serving in the Army during World War II, returned to earn an M.F.A. in 1947 and a Ph.D. in 1954, all in art and archaeology. He was a lecturer at the University of Michigan for two years before joining the Princeton faculty in 1949. He retired as the Howard Crosby Butler Memorial Professor of the History of Architecture in 1988.

While serving on Princeton's faculty, he wrote two award-winning books, The Villa d'Este at Tivoli (1961) and The Villa in the Life of Renaissance Rome (1979). After transferring to emeritus status, he wrote Gardens and Gardening in Papal Rome (1991) and The English Garden: Meditation and Memorial (1994), as well as an historical guide to Princeton's Graduate College (2000). His last book, a biography of Italian architect Pirro Ligorio, is set for publication in January by the Pennsylvania State University Press.

"Since I first encountered Professor Coffin's magisterial books on Renaissance architecture and landscape architecture, I admired him as a path-breaker in the understanding of the interaction of architecture and landscape," said Gloria Kury, the art history and humanities editor at Penn State Press, who worked with Mr. Coffin on his final book.

As chair of the art and archaeology department from 1964 to 1970, Mr. Coffin was involved in planning major renovations to the Marquand Library of Art and Architecture, one of the country's oldest art libraries. In addition, he was one of the principals in establishing the program in landscape architecture at Dumbarton Oaks, the Harvard University research center in Washington, D.C. In 1982, he won Princeton's annual Howard T. Behrman Award for distinguished achievement in the humanities.

He is survived by his wife, Nancy; two daughters, Elizabeth Coffin-Allerhand and Lois Coffin Jenny; two sons, Peter and David; and eight grandchildren.

Memorial contributions may be sent to the Professor David Coffin Memorial Fund, Princeton University, c/o Nancy Kalmikoff, Gift Records, P.O. Box 5357, Princeton 08543-5357.

Betty Jean Conn

Betty Jean Conn, 82, of Princeton, died October 17 at home.

Born in Wabash, Ind., she had been a Princeton resident for the past 30 years.

She was a graduate of St. Mary's College at Notre Dame in South Bend, Ind., where she received a bachelor's degree in 1943.

Wife of the late Hadley Louis Conn Jr., M.D., she is survived by four sons, Eric of Chattanooga, Tenn., Jeffrey of Wayne, Pa., Thomas of Nashville, Tenn., and Andrew of Moorestown; a daughter, Lisabeth Ann Hayes of Chicago, Il.; and six grandchildren.

A memorial service will be planned for a later date. Interment will be in Princeton Cemetery.

Memorial Contributions may be made to St. Paul's Church, 214 Nassau Street, Princeton 08542.

Arrangements are under the direction of The Kimble Funeral Home.

Herbert B. Davison

Herbert B. Davison, 88, of Meadow Lakes, died October 14 at home.

Born in Hightstown, he was a resident of Princeton for many years before moving to Meadow Lakes in 1985.

He attended Princeton Country Day School, Berkshire Academy, Hamilton College, and the Pace Institute.

He joined his family-owned Hightstown Rug Company in 1933 and remained with the company until the plant closed in 1965. He served as a director at the company and was president of the co-owned Mercer Yarn Company.

He was active in the Hightstown Historical Society, and was a member of the First Presbyterian Church of Hightstown and former deacon of the First Presbyterian Church of Princeton. He was also an amateur photographer who enjoyed taking pictures of people.

Brother of the late Peg Chubet, husband of the late Dorothy B. Davison and Margarit Buechner, and father of the late Nancy Johnson, he is survived by a son, John H. of Los Angeles, Calif.; and three grandchildren.

The funeral service was October 20 at the First Presbyterian Church of Hightstown. Burial was in Princeton Cemetery.

Memorial contributions may be made to the Hightstown Historical Society, 164 North Main Street, Hightstown 08520.

Arrangements were by A.S. Cole Funeral Home, Cranbury.

Dorothy L. S. Edwards

Dorothy L. Sincak Edwards, 75, of Kingston, died October 7 at Compassionate Care Hospice in Trenton.

Born in Roebling, she had been a resident of Kingston and Rocky Hill for the past 57 years.

A Princeton High School graduate, she was employed as an operator for Bell Telephone in Princeton, as a receptionist for Kingston Trap Rock Company, and at the beauty salon at Macy's in Quakerbridge Mall.

She was a member of Kingston Methodist Church and a former member of the Ladies Auxiliary of the Kingston Volunteer Fire Company.

Daughter of the late Louis and Katherine Sincak, she is survived by her husband of 54 years, John H. Edwards of Kingston; a son, John M. of Snellsville, Ga.; a daughter, Linda Edwards of Lawrenceville; a brother, Lewis Sincak of Kingston; a sister, Betty Johnson of Jackson; and one grandson.

A memorial service will be announced at a later time. A private burial will be held in Rocky Hill Cemetery.

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

Brenda Hart

Brenda Hart, 43, of South Orange, died October 11 at home.

Born in Trenton, she was the daughter of the late Robert B. Hart and sister of the late Theodore Hart. She is survived by her mother, Barbara M. Coan Hagadorn of Princeton; a daughter, Nina Vasquez of Princeton; a son, Hayden Glantz of Allendale; a brother, David Hagadorn of Princeton; and a sister, Julia Chesney of South Brunswick.

Private services were held at the Mather-Hodge Funeral Home.

Memorial Service for Elizabeth Dilworth

A Memorial Service for Elizabeth C. Dilworth, who died on September 30, will be held at the Princeton University Chapel at 1:30 p.m. on Friday, October 24. A reception at Prospect House will follow the service.