Paul Gray, 70, of West Windsor died September 11 at his home. Born in Joliet, Illinois, he began his career in journalism when he was 14 at a radio station and later worked at the Laurel Leader.
He attended the University of Mississippi and received his doctorate degree at the University of Virginia, Class of 1964. Gray taught at Princeton University until 1972, when he began writing at Time magazine. He wrote cover stories and book reviews there until he retired in 2001. Since then he contributed to the New York Times and the New Leader.
Survivors include his wife Betsy, a teacher of English and literature at High School South; two children, Margaret Gray of Los Angeles, California, and David Gray of Wilmington, North Carolina; four grandchildren; his mother, Erma Gray of Jackson, Mississippi; brothers Brian Gray of Fair Oaks, California, Bruce Gray of Jackson, Douglas Gray of Columbus, Ohio; and a sister, Martha Lovett of Phoenix, Arizona.
A Writer’s Tribute
When Paul Gray left the English faculty at Princeton for a job at Time magazine in 1972, he quickly discovered a gifted new writer: himself. He established a reputation as a brilliant book reviewer, covering everything from cookbooks to the Bible but focusing on the major novelists of the era — Philip Roth, Thomas Pynchon, Saul Bellow, Don DeLillo — while not forgetting J.K. Rowling, of Harry Potter fame, crime writer Scott Turow, and even romance novelists like Nora Roberts. His cover subjects included John Updike, Toni Morrison, and Tom Wolfe.
But in his 29 years with the magazine, Paul became much more than a book critic. He ranged over topics as diverse as eugenics, Joe DiMaggio, bird-watching, TV quiz shows, Pope John Paul II, education reform, Sigmund Freud, and the vagaries of Jimmy Carter’s presidency. To all of them he brought a thoughtful, judicious approach, writing with unfailing grace and wit.
Gray may be best remembered by his colleagues as a master of a magazine genre known as the tone poem: a brief, evocative scene setter for a series of stories to follow. Nobody could more eloquently encapsulate the essence of a complex package than Paul. His prelude to Time’s coverage of the Challenger space-shuttle explosion in 1986, for example, movingly evoked the ordinary humanity of the seven victims in four short paragraphs. Unlike his other pieces, these mini-overtures were mostly unsigned, yet they were indelibly his. A journalistic maxim for writers fated to be anonymous goes, “Sign it with your style.” And did he ever.
— Christopher Porterfield
Porterfield edited Time’s arts sections from 1972 to 2003, when he retired as executive editor. The remarks above are excerpted from a piece that is posted at www.Time.com.
Albert Small III, 36, of Anniston, Alabama, formerly of West Windsor, died September 5. Survivors include his parents, Alice (Graves) Small and Albert Small Jr. He was a member of the Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity. Services were held at Philemon Missionary Baptist Church in Newark. Visit www.plintoncurry.com to sign his guest book.
Huaiyu Wang, 87, of West Windsor died September 7. Born in Beijing, China, Wang was a teacher for more than 35 years.
Survivors include her daughter Wenqi Wang; son-in-law Kaixu Yuan; and grandchildren Diana and David Yuan, all of West Windsor; two other daughters, Wen-Jin Wang and Wen-Qing Wang; and three sons, Wen-zhu Wang, Wen-qian Wang, and Wen-cong Wang, all of China; seven other grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren. Donations may be made to National Osteoporosis Foundation (www.nof.org), or to OCM Canaan Church of Princeton.
Angela M. DiLouie, 57, of Plainsboro died September 10 at home. Born in Trenton, she was a longtime resident of Hamilton before moving to Plainsboro. A former teacher with the Hamilton Township Board of Education, she taught at Queenship of Mary.
Survivors include her husband, Richard H. DiLouie; two daughters and one son-in-law, Cheryl L. DiLouie and Jaclyn and Mark McKeever; her son, Richard H. DiLouie; her sister-in-law and brother-in-law, Elizabeth and John Panacek, and numerous aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, and cousins.
Donations may be made to Queenship of Mary R.C. Church, 16 Dey Road, Plainsboro 08536, or to Nativity of Our Lord R.C. Church, 185 Applegarth Road Monroe 08831.
John Molnar, 64, of Toms River died September 11. A former plumbing inspector for West Windsor, he was a member of the Plumbers and Pipe Fitters Union in Manalapan. He retired in 2007. Survivors include his son and daughter-in-law, John M. and Sarah Molnar of Allentown; his daughter, Michelle Molnar of Boca Raton, Florida; three grandchildren; and his companion, Mildred Delgado of Toms River.
John “Jack” Bedford Rutzel, 74, of Ocean Isle Beach, died September 12. Survivors include daughter and son-in-law Stacey Anne and Anthony Mangone of West Windsor; and grandchildren Kira L. Mangone and Alexander E. Mangone. Donations may be made to Brunswick County Care Center Building Fund, Lower Cape Fear Hospice, 1414 Physicians Drive, Wilmington, NC 28401.
William L. Rice, 87 of Whitehall died September 14. Survivors include daughter and son-in-law, Pamela J. Rice and James W. Mitos of West Windsor. Donations may be made to the American Heart Association, 212 East Broad Street, Bethlehem, PA, 18018.
Donald R. Vogen, 79, of West Windsor, died September 15 at his home. He had lived in West Windsor for 34 years. Born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, he was a graduate of Marquette University and served in the U.S. Air Force during the Korean War. Vogen worked most of his career in the defense industry.
Survivors include his wife of 53 years Kathleen (Kay) Vogen; three sons, Michael Vogen, David Vogen, and John Vogen; two daughters, Donna Hillman and Leigh Ann Clarke; daughters-in-law, Catherine Vogen and Candy Vogen; sons-in-law, Robert Clarke and Bruce Hillman; and seven grandchildren, Justin Sharkey, Edelweiss Vogen, Brandon Clarke, Sean Clarke, Alex Vogen, Ryan Vogen, and Kyle Hillman.
Donations may be made to St. David the King R.C. Church, 1 New Village Road, West Windsor 08550 or Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, Box 27106, New York, NY 10087-7106.
Ingeborg Isolde Kerr, 80, of Plainsboro, died September 15, in the University Medical Center at Princeton. Born in Stuttgart, she came to the United States in 1945 with her husband and resided most of her life in Penns Grove and Elmer before moving to Plainsboro in 2007. She retired in 1992 with more than 30 years of service as a bakery manager with Super Fresh Stores.
Survivors include two daughters and two sons-in-law, Deborah Kerr-Leathem and her husband, Lester Leathem of West Windsor, and Barbara and Michael Finnegan of Carney’s Point; two brothers and their wives, Karlheinz and Ilse Autenrieth and Dieter and Sieglinde Reichardt, all of Germany; four grandchildren, Tara Scott, Brett Soper, Allison Leathem, and Jessica Leathem; and a great-grandson, Bristol Scott.
Donations may be made to All Saints Church, 16 All Saints Road, Princeton 08540; Princeton Save, A Friend to Homeless Animals, 900 Herrontown Road, Princeton 08540; or Maddie and Friends, 320 Peck Corner Road, Salem 08079.
Henry J. Frundt,70, of Montclair died September 16. Survivors include daughter and son-in-law, Laura and Chris Gilliland of West Windsor,
Jose R. Miranda, 80, of Plainsboro died September 16 in the Pavilions At Forrestal, Plainsboro. Born in Reibera, Spain, he lived in New York City for most of his life. He retired in 1991 with more than 40 years of service as a pipefitter with the Pipefitters Local 472.
Survivors include a daughter and son-in-law, Theresa A. and Farhood Selamie; and two grandchildren, Jason Alden and Cameron Selamie. Donations may be made to the American Cancer Society Central New Jersey Region, 2600 Route 1, North Brunswick 08902.
Snigdha Mohanty, 40, of West Windsor died on September 10, in Mercer Lake in Mercer County Park. No further information is available.
Jacqueline T. Cassera O’Dell, 78 of North Brunswick died September 17. Survivors include a son, Sean O’Leary of Plainsboro. Donations may be made to the American Cancer Society, 6725 Lyons Street, Box 7, East Syracuse, NY 13057-0007.
Rosemarie Garaffa Mandy, 67, of East Brunswick died September 18. Survivors include a sister, Arlene Bellotti of West Windsor. Donations may be made to the American heart Association, 1 Union Street Suite # 301, Robbinsville 08691.
Georgiana Jacques, 85, of Berkeley Heights died September 19. Survivors include son and daughter-in-law, Walter and Kathy Jacques of West Windsor.
