Stephanie Phyllis Weiss passed away unexpectedly but peacefully on July 9, 2024. Born to Jerome and Renee Freiling on January 18, 1958, in New York City, she grew up in Livingston, N.J. Stephanie graduated from Livingston High School and Rutgers University, subsequently obtained an MBA in finance from New York University, and spent a career working in finance and marketing in health care.
Stephanie lived a full and passionate life and was fiercely devoted to family, many close friends and animals of all stripes, for all of whom she maintained open ears, kind thoughts and a warm embrace. She was a generous and giving person, always thinking of and working to help others and always putting their needs above her own. Her love was and remains steadfast, concrete, enduring and kind.
A lover of cultures, tastes and ideas from across the globe, she enjoyed traveling and reveled in seeing much of the world with her family and friends. She enjoyed many happy memories by the lake and ocean and, later on, in the snow and mountains of Vermont. She found joy in tranquility and quiet moments, often being found eyeing produce at farmers markets, working in her garden or kitchen, or walking (while simultaneously reading the New York Times) around neighborhoods or bodies of water, trailed by doting dogs and cats.
A voracious reader with a brilliant mind, she was always looking for articles to clip out for others or new recipes to try as a means of creative expression. A true chef with an always-overflowing fridge and kitchen, she often found a way to feed dozens at the drop of a hat, serving up gourmet love from backyard to campsite and beyond. She was an omnipresent and calming force at her children’s games (albeit watching every soccer header or rugby tackle with bated breath) and her husband’s concerts, and she relished every opportunity to enjoy theater, from the Flynn to Broadway.
Stephanie was predeceased by her parents and leaves behind her husband of 35 years, Dan; son Kevin and his wife, Shannon; daughter Sarah and her partner, Craig; brother Mark and his wife, Virginia; brothers- and sisters-in-law Tony, Tara, Michael and Jennifer; as well as nieces and nephew Anna, Giuliana, Julie and Alex. She had a rich spectrum of dear friends from all aspects of her life in New York, New Jersey, Michigan, Washington and Vermont and will be deeply missed by all.
These written words cannot do her justice or fully catalog her rich presence — she will be dearly missed and always remembered by all whose lives she touched. Her values, character and life will remain embodied by the countless individuals who were privileged to have known her; she was everything to everyone and brought the best of life out of so many. Mom — we are who we are today only through the love that you built for us, your generosity, your zest and your spirit. PS: Don’t worry, no other whale watch will come close to yours.
Donations in Stephanie’s memory can be made to your local humane society. A celebration of her life will be held in the fall.
This article appears in Jul 16-22, 2025.