Delaware lost many well-known residents in 2024 who touched the lives of their family, friends and community.
Delaware Online/The News Journal has compiled a list of some of the most prominent Delawareans who passed away, reflecting on their lives and legacies.
Known as a “trailblazer,” former state senator Myrna L. Bair died on Jan. 29, 2024, at the age of 83.
She held office from 1980 to 2000 including as Senate minority leader for 14 years and minority whip for two years.
Gov. John Carney called Bair “a trailblazer for women in state government,” for serving as the only woman in legislative leadership at the time and for her work as an advocate for women and families.
She helped start the Delaware Department of Services for Children, Youth, and their Families and the Office of the Child Advocate. She also established the Women’s Leadership Development Program at the University of Delaware.
Born in Huntington, West Virginia, she held a doctorate in inorganic chemistry from the University of Wisconsin and taught chemistry at Beaver College and the University of Delaware.
Among her numerous awards are the Order of the First State, conferred by Gov. Thomas Carper, and the Distinguished Legislative Service Award from the Delaware State Bar Association. She was also inducted into the Hall of Fame of Delaware Women in 2011.
After leaving the Senate, she accepted the position of public adviser and assistant professor in the Institute for Public Administration at the University of Delaware, where she directed the Women’s Leadership Development Program.
About 1,000 people including representatives from dozens of fire companies and emergency agencies attended the Aug. 22 funeral for Thomas Berry III, the 23-year-old volunteer with both the Ellendale and Georgetown fire companies who worked as a technician for Sussex County Emergency Medical Services.
On Aug. 13, Berry was driving an EMS vehicle to be serviced when he saw a crash on Route 9, west of Georgetown. A car had struck a utility pole and Berry stopped to help. As he assisted the driver, the pole snapped, bringing down electrical wires and killing Berry.
“He was a hero who gave his life serving the community,” said Sussex County Public Safety Director Robert Murray.
A 2019 graduate of Milford High School, Berry was part of a long line of firefighters and EMTs, with relatives as far back as his great-grandfather serving the Ellendale Fire Company.
“Thomas, he was a generational firefighter,” said Ellendale Volunteer Fire Company President Kyle Perry. “On record, he was an eight-year member, but Thomas grew up in Ellendale and we’ve known him his entire life.”
“He was always eager to learn, never too proud to ask for more information or a better way of doing things,” Perry said.
Berry was named Ellendale Firefighter of the Year in 2022, but refused to attend the ceremony because he didn’t like being the center of attention, Perry said.
Berry’s EMS supervisor, Bobby Schoonover, said he encouraged Berry to expand his skills and that he hoped to become a 911 dispatcher.
“He cared about all that he came in contact with, to the point he would do just about anything for anyone,” Schoonover said.
Gov. John Carney said, “Most people run away from danger, and then there are an elite few who run toward dangerous situations to help others. Thomas ‘Tommy’ Berry was one of those people, making the ultimate sacrifice to help a neighbor in need.”
Former Wilmington City Council President Ted Blunt, the father of Delaware Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester, died Jan. 11, 2024, at the age of 80.
“He was an educator, mentor, leader, and friend to countless Delawareans,” Blunt Rochester said on behalf of her family in a statement. “Our entire family asks for your grace, prayers, and privacy as we mourn his loss.”
His daughter made history as Delaware’s first Black and first woman U.S. Representative, and in November she was elected as the state’s first Black and first woman U.S. Senator.
Ted Blunt made history as a student-athlete, school administrator and city leader.
A noted high school basketball player, he was inducted into the Blue-Gold Basketball All-Star Hall of Fame. He earned his bachelor’s degree in education from Winston-Salem Teachers College, now Winston-Salem State University, and graduated from Rutgers University with a master’s degree in social work. He served as a school administrator in three Delaware public school districts.
U.S. Sen. Tom Carper said he had known Blunt for more than 30 years, working “to make Wilmington and New Castle County a better place to live and work.”
“He was also the best basketball player I’ve ever stepped foot on a court with,” Carper said. “Ted was a devoted husband who, with his wife Alice, helped raise three of the most amazing daughters a father could ask for.”
Blunt was first elected to Wilmington Council’s 1st District in 1985. In 2000, he was elected as council president and served two terms in that role.
Wilmington Mayor Mike Purzycki lauded Blunt as a “committed public servant, skilled politician, gifted athlete and dedicated educator.”
The mayor said during Blunt’s time in office, he “led by example and, with selflessness and grace, worked to forge consensus among” council members and create partnerships citywide.
Blunt also received praise from President Joe Biden.
“Jill and I have known and loved Ted Blunt for decades,” Biden said. “You didn’t have to know Ted as long or as well as we have known him to witness his kindness, optimism, and selflessness.”
“Ted’s dedication to the most vulnerable among us was matched only by his deep devotion to his family,” Biden said.
More on politics:Lisa Blunt Rochester sweeps US Senate race as the first Black Delawarean to do it
Dorinda “Dori” Connor was a Delaware state senator representing District 12 for more than a decade after her husband, Bob, died in 1997 while serving in that role.
Combined, the Connors served Delaware for more than 40 years, with Dori advocating for legislation for nursing home reform, domestic violence issues, minimum wage, public safety, stopping human trafficking and more.
Dori Connor died on June 30, 2024, after a 10-year battle with Parkinson’s disease. She was 77.
“Dori and her husband Bob were quite a team – working together to better greater New Castle for decades,” said Gov. John Carney. “They were respected educators and legislators. They worked to make government more transparent and responsive to the concerns of ordinary people.”
Carney said Dori was a champion of people with disabilities and victims of crimes.
After graduating with a degree in music education from West Chester University in 1968, she moved to Delaware and taught school music and choir courses for 11 years.
For 23 years she worked as a partner with her husband, solving problems for the 12th Senatorial District. When Bob passed away in 1997, a special election was held and Dori won with 80% of the vote.
As a senator, she worked diligently on legislation for open government, nursing home reform, domestic violence issues, the minimum wage, credit card fraud, identity theft, public safety, citizens with disabilities and stopping human trafficking.
Just a week from his 94th birthday, Anthony Fusco Sr. died in Wilmington on June 14, 2024.
In his obituary, his family wrote that the Italian immigrant, U.S. Navy veteran and Delaware real estate powerhouse will be remembered as a builder, “but not in the traditional sense. Tony was interested in building things that last: family, relationships, communities, and legacies.”
He founded Fusco Management in 1965, setting the stage for one of the largest real estate portfolios in New Castle County. With that and community partnerships, he soon became a major philanthropist. He has made millions in commitments to St. Anthony’s Church, Padua Academy, Nemours Children’s Hospital, the Delaware Art Museum, Salesianum School, Ursuline Academy, St. Edmond’s Academy, Saint Mark’s High School, Delaware Military Academy and other organizations.
Padua Academy leaders said his contributions were instrumental during the construction of a campus building that has benefitted over 8,000 alumnae and students.
Last year, he announced a $10 million donation to Salesianum School for its Fusco Fields sports complex in Wilmington. The Tony Fusco and the Anthony & Catherine Fusco Charitable Foundation gave $10 million to support the Salesianum endowment fund in 2014, as well as $2.5 million to support Delaware Military Academy and its Anthony N. Fusco Sr. Athletic & Academic Center.
He received the Rev. Roberto Balducelli Appreciation Award in 2017 for this “unyielding commitment” to his community.
“If you look up philanthropist in the dictionary, it has a picture of Tony,” said Gov. John Carney. “He generously donated to organizations that benefited thousands of Delaware families.”
Fusco was born in Castel Morrone, Italy, just outside Naples. His family moved to the United States through Ellis Island when he was just 2 years old. They settled in Wilmington’s Little Italy neighborhood and he attended Wilmington High School.
Just before graduation, he enlisted in the Navy. After an honorable discharge, he returned to Wilmington and wed Catherine Rapuano in 1953. They were married for 49 years until her death in 2002.
A Laurel native who helped build a well-known business and gave back to her community, Mary Louise Janosik died April 21, 2024, at the age of 92.
Mary and her husband Johnny, who died in 2016, opened the first Johnny Janosik World of Furniture store in Laurel over 70 years ago. Since then, the business has expanded across the state.
“Mary was a beacon of light in the lives of everyone she met, admired for her business sense (and) cherished for her boundless kindness and the warmth she brought into our lives,” her son-in-law Barry Morrison wrote on Facebook.
The Janosiks were involved in philanthropy throughout the Laurel community, playing a major role in the Laurel Redevelopment Corporation, the Boys and Girls Club, the Laurel Hope House and the Good Samaritan of Laurel.
“Mary was not just a beloved family member, but also a friend to all, known for her love of her family and friends, her delightful sense of humor, and her incredible stories of days gone by,” Morrison wrote.
Sister María Dolores Mairlot died Sept. 26, 2024, leaving a legacy of love, compassion, and dedication to the Latino community in Georgetown, Delaware after service in other states and countries. She was 91.
Born in Asturias, Spain, on June 8, 1933, Sister María became a piano teacher and later pursued a career in nursing in England.
In 1953, she joined the Carmelite Sisters of Charity, Vedruna in Madrid, where she became a devoted missionary.
In 1980, many sisters from England and the Caribbean moved to the East Coast of the United States to help the increasing number of Spanish-speaking immigrants coming to Washington and New York. Sister María and others founded Mount Carmel House, a shelter for homeless women, and she worked as a nurse at both D.C. General Hospital and the Spanish Catholic Center in Maryland.
In 1995, Sister María moved to Georgetown, Delaware, to serve the growing Hispanic population alongside Sisters Rosa Alvarez and Ascensión Banegas, helping thousands of immigrants in need.
As a pastoral associate at Saint Michael the Archangel Catholic Church, Sister María taught faith formation, prepared couples for marriage, mentored church leaders and directed choirs. Her musical talents inspired many young people to play piano and sing.
She also helped over 30 families buy their first homes, served as an interpreter and advocate for families in medical appointments, and supported the establishment of community organizations and events such as El Centro Cultural, Festival Hispano, Caroling on the Circle, La Casita, La Esperanza Community Center, Primeros Pasos Child Care Center, La Red Health Center and The Rosa Health Center.
In 2003, Sister María received the Governor’s Outstanding Volunteer Award for her many hours of faith-based volunteer work at Saint Michael the Archangel Catholic Church.
In May 2010, she was honored with the Papal Honor, the Benemerenti Medal, by Pope Benedict XVI for her service to the church.
In September 2010, the community chose her for an HOLA Award, recognizing her love, compassion, support and dedication to the Latino community.
Robert I. Marshall, who served in the state Senate for four decades, died March 30, 2024. He was 77.
Born and raised in Wilmington, he attended Salesianum High School and earned his bachelor’s degree in political science at Thomas Edison State College in New Jersey. He served in the Army National Guard and worked at the Delaware Skills Center where he spent 18 years as the executive director.
Marshall was elected to the state senate in 1978 and served until he announced his retirement in 2018. He also ran unsuccessful campaigns for mayor of Wilmington in 2012 and 2016.
“He was a stalwart of the Delaware state Senate,” former state Sen. Harris B. McDowell III said. “I served with him for 40 years and it was a pleasure every day of it.”
Marshall was a supporter of labor and community issues and was always on top of his game, McDowell said.
Younger people who met Marshall attributed their taste for politics to him and his wealth of knowledge about the subject.
“Sen. Marshall gave me my first opportunity to work on a political campaign from a serious perspective,” said Keith James, who worked on Marshall’s mayoral campaign. In addition to introducing James to different politicians across Delaware, Marshall also helped teach him the “ins and outs of politics.”
Marshall lost the Democratic primary for a state House seat in 1972, but ran for state Senate six years later and held that seat for 40 years. He served on committees and was chair of the Senate Labor Committee. He was also Senate majority whip from 1989 to 1990 and from 1995 to 1996.
Kevin F. Kelley Sr., a former Wilmington city councilman who grew up a few blocks from Marshall, said Marshall was a different style of politician, who was very involved in the city and came from a political family.
“He was a deal maker,” Kelley said, “and he always loved the art of the deal.”
Despite being an elected lawmaker for 40 years, Kelley said the son of a union carpenter remembered his roots and fought to improve people’s lives.
“He never forgot where he came from,” Kelley said.
Marshall pushed legislation to improve care in nursing homes, passed in 2000. He helped improve parks on Wilmington’s west side and worked to fund the mini police stations that Wilmington set up years ago. He also advocated for the Work-a-Day, Earn-a-Pay program, which provides jobs for unemployed Delawareans to build public works projects.
In his last year in office, Marshall helped secure a $1 bump in the state’s minimum wage.
The director of bands for 36 years at A.I. du Pont High School, Paul L. Parets died Oct. 13, 2024. He was 82.He grew up in Melvindale, Michigan where he attended Melvindale High School and played in the marching band. He attended Central Michigan University where he founded CMU’s Zeta Rho Chapter of the Sigma Chi fraternity, played in the marching band and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in music education.He directed the high school band at Croswell-Lexington High School in Michigan for 10 years and composed the school’s Pioneer fight song that is still used today.In 1976, Parets was hired to take over the band program at Alexis I. du Pont High School in Greenville and created a student-led marching band in which students elected their drum majors and band officers, selected the music and decided which festivals and events to attend.
He encouraged student-athletes to be part of the band so they could perform in concerts, parades, and festivals when their sport was not in season.
The Tiger Marching Band’s ranks quickly swelled from about 90 to about 300 members. Anyone who attended an A.I. home football game can remember watching the “Long Blue Line” as the band marched from the high school to the athletic field.
The marching band became the first in Delaware to perform at the Rose Bowl and also performed at the presidential inaugurations of Jimmy Carter and George H. W. Bush, the St. Patrick’s Day Parade in Dublin, Ireland, the Fiesta Bowl, the New Year’s Day Parade in London, England and at the Vatican for Pope Benedict.
Parets was selected as 1987 Delaware Teacher of the Year. When he retired in 2012, he received a tribute in the U.S. Congressional Record for his services to music education and education in general in Delaware.He also served his community in Delaware City, on the Board of Adjustments and as a member of the Lions Club. He received the Mayor’s Community Service Proclamation in 2019.In a memorial tribute, generations of A.I. du Pont Tiger Marching Band members saluted “Mr. P” by performing at the homecoming game Oct. 25.
“He’s done so much and touched so many people’s lives, not just the folks who were in the band,” said Tony Brown, a 1997 graduate who was drum major his senior year. “There are so many students that walked the halls here at A.I. that he touched or had some type of inspiration for.”
More on memorial tribute to Parets:Tiger pride noted as A.I. du Pont alumni honor late ex-band director in Homecoming show
Jackie Pitts, the first citizen of lacrosse in Delaware and one of the nation’s leading figures in the sport, died Aug. 30, 2024, at age 87.
A graduate of and longtime educator at Sanford School, she was among the nation’s leading lacrosse players for more than 15 years, coached the U.S. national team for the next decade, served as president of the U.S. Women’s Lacrosse Association and was instrumental in establishing the sport’s world championship tournament.
Pitts starred in lacrosse and field hockey at Sanford, where she was coached by women’s athletic pioneer Nancy Sawin, and returned to Sanford after college in 1959 to teach for five decades and coach for most of them.
While teaching math at Sanford, she played for Philadelphia teams that won regional and national lacrosse championships.
She was named an All-American eight times and captained the 1962 and 1974 All-American squads.
Pitts played on five U.S. teams in international competition, including the unit that wrested the informal world title from Great Britain in 1969 and defended the crown in 1970 in Australia.
After she helped establish the sport’s World Cup, Pitts coached the Americans to the first championship in 1982 and runner-up in the second event in 1986.
Born in 1937 in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania, Pitts attended Alexis I. du Pont High School before Sanford, which established Delaware’s first lacrosse team in 1946.
At St. Lawrence University, which did not then offer lacrosse, she was active in theatre and musical productions, edited the student newspaper and starred in field hockey.
Upon graduation she returned to Sanford, where she spent the next 55 years teaching, coaching and mentoring.
Over her career at Sanford, Pitts also coached field hockey and basketball, excelled at tennis and squash, taught advanced math, mechanical drawing and computer programming, chaired the math department and served as a dean and girls athletic director.
“She has an energy and commitment to life that I’ve never seen in anyone else in 40 years in education,” Sanford headmaster Chip MacKelcan said in 2010.
Pitts was president of both the U.S. Women’s Lacrosse Association and the International Federation of Women’s Lacrosse Associations. She was the first recipient of USA Lacrosse’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 2015.
She helped establish lacrosse in Japan and Czechoslovakia.
Pitts was inducted into the Sanford, St. Lawrence, USA Lacrosse and Delaware Women’s Halls of Fame, as well the Delaware Sports Museum and Hall of Fame.
In her honor, USA Lacrosse presents the Jackie Pitts Award each year to high school girls in the association’s 79 geographic sections based on academic achievement and public service.
More state sports news:Counting down Delaware’s top 125 coaches through the years. Here’s 125 to 101
David Roselle, who served as president at two major universities, died April 15, 2024, at the age of 84.
A Pennsylvania native, he graduated from West Chester University and received his PhD in mathematics from Duke University where he met his wife, Louise Dowling. They were married for 57 years.
He was a mathematics professor at the University of Maryland, Louisiana State University and Virginia Tech.
At Virginia Tech, he was promoted to dean of the Graduate School and later the provost.
In 1987, he was hired as president of the University of Kentucky and led the university through a basketball scandal that started shortly after his arrival. He was praised for his honest and thorough approach to the investigation and in 1989 was named Kentucky Sportsman of the Year.
University of Kentucky President Eli Capilouto called Roselle an “outstanding leader in higher education” who had “a profoundly important and positive impact” on the university.
In 1990, David was appointed president of the University of Delaware, a position that he held for 17 years. He led the university through a capital campaign, tripling the endowment from $360 million to $1.4 billion.
“President Roselle advanced UD’s academic and research excellence while developing our campus infrastructure during a time of tremendous digital growth,” said University of Delaware President President Dennis Assanis. “David and Louise were deeply committed to the arts, as well. Students, faculty, staff, alumni and community members all continue to benefit from his enduring legacy of service to UD.
After retiring from the university in 2007, he was hired as executive director of Winterthur Museum northwest of Wilmington where he worked for 10 years.
Two buildings have been named for him, The Louise and David Roselle Center for the Arts at the University of Delaware and Roselle Hall at the University of Kentucky.
In his obituary, his family said Roselle was a devoted husband, father and grandfather.
“He found his greatest joys in watching and hearing about the lives of his children and grandchildren, who called him ‘GoDad,’ a nickname that he always loved,” his family said.
After a career as a lawyer, judge and Supreme Court Justice in Delaware, James T. Vaughn Jr., 75, of Smyrna, died Oct. 10, 2024.
The son of former Department of Correction commissioner and state senator James Vaughn Sr., he grew up in Clayton, graduated from John Bassett Moore High School in 1967 and Duke University in 1971. Later that year, he married his high school sweetheart, Marjorie “Missy” Speakman.
Vaughn attended law school at Georgetown University but that was interrupted when he was drafted into the Army during the last few years of the Vietnam War. He graduated from Georgetown Law School in 1976.
He worked in private practice until he was appointed to the Superior Court of Delaware in 1998. He served both as Resident Judge from 1998 to 2004 and President Judge from 2004 until his appointment to the Supreme Court of Delaware in 2014.
Vaughn retired from the state Supreme Court in 2023.
He was active in his community, as a member of the Rotary Club, on the Vestry of St Peter’s Church and attending Inns of Court. He was a member of Harmony Lodge No. 13, serving as a past Master in 1986.
“Justice Vaughn worked hard to uphold the values of the Delaware courts for more than 25 years as a member of the Kent County Superior Court, the Delaware Superior Court and later the Delaware Supreme Court,” said Gov. John Carney. “In all of these roles, he was the epitome of a true public servant and gentleman — kind, welcoming, and thoughtful.”
Reach reporter Ben Mace at rmace@gannett.com.
