Daily Record from Morristown, New Jersey • Page A7

DAILYRECORD.COM DAILYRECORD 7A Death Notices Agnelli, Joseph Rockaway Bermingham Funeral Home de Jong, Anne Basking Ridge; Rowe Lanterman Funeral Home Goff, Eileen formerly of Morristown; Saul Funeral Home Pitman, Sarah Freehold; Norman Dean Home for Services Sarah Pitman gently passed away on Monday, September 14th after gracefully battling a long illness. She leaves so many wonderful memories to her husband Vincent of Farmingdale, NJ, her daughters Gayle and her partner Amy Tackett of Sacramento, CA and Susannah and her husband Michael of Randolph, NJ, her granddaughter Anna Rowan Pitman-Tackett, and her siblings Jane Ann Walter and her husband Ray of Cotopaxi, CO and David and Sandy Youse of Bethel Park, PA. She was blessed with a loving stepfamily, including stepsons Vincent Strangio of Pittsburgh, PA and James Strangio of Hoboken, NJ, stepdaughter Laura Santagata and her husband Nicholas of Millburn, NJ and step-grandchildren Vincent, Nicholas, Gianna, Skyler and Blake. A memorial gathering will take place on Saturday, October 3rd from to with a memorial service beginning at at Norman Dean Home for Services 16 Righter Avenue Denville, NJ 07834. In lieu of Sally wishes for donations to be made to the American Cancer Society.

Please leave a condolence at: www.normandean.com SARAH PITMAN AGE: 71 FREEHOLD Rockaway Joseph G. Agnelli passed away on September 15, 2015 at home with his family. He was 79 years of age. Joseph was born in Passaic, NJ and recently of Rockaway Twp. Mr.

Agnelli retired as a supervisor from Pantasote Polymers in Passaic. He is predeceased by his wife Julia B. and sons Frank Charles. He is survived by his son Joseph of Rockaway Twp. and Grandchildren; Amanda, Samantha, Michael and Jacqueline.

Services were private. Offer condolences at www. BerminghamFH.com JOSEPH G. AGNELLI AGE: 79 ROCKAWAY TWP. Anne B.

(Dennison) de Jong, 94, passed away from natural causes early Sunday morning on September 13, 2015, Basking Ridge NJ. Anne was born on December 5 in Rye, later attended Chapin School for Girls in New York, NY. She earned her BA in Education from Bennington College, then her teaching cate from SUNY Brockport. Anne then joined the US Navy and became an Aviation Machinist. Upon honorable discharge, she returned to New York and received her MA in Education from Colombia University.

Anne lived for adventure. During her time in the Navy, she traveled to Alaska where she fell in love with its beauty and culture, and considered homesteading and teaching. She decided to return to New York to continue her education, and moved into International House. It was there that she met her husband, Pieter de Jong, a student at Union Theological Seminary. Together they began their greatest adventure of all; they were married in 1952 and moved to Canada, where their four children were born.

In 1965, Anne and her family returned to the US, eventually settling in Madison NJ where Pieter became Acting Dean of the Theological Seminary at Drew University. Anne spent her time as a homemaker, focusing on assuring quality education for her children, and still sharing in the occasional weekend family adventure. Anne was passionate about her family. She also enjoyed traveling, knitting, writing poetry, the occasional quality dessert, and helping anyone who was lucky enough to cross her path. Anne is survived by her 4 children: Alida, Pieter wife Vikki, Paul wife Kitty, and Tim wife Vanessa; 5 granddaughters: Amanda husband Andy, Sarah, Nicole, Kristina and Li Allison, and one Grace.

Services will be held October at St. Church in Morristown, NJ. Condolences may also be expressed online at www.row elanterman.com ANNE B. DE JONG AGE: 94 BASKING RIDGE Eileen P. Goff, 78, of Bluffton, SC and formerly of Morristown, NJ, Piscataway, NJ, and Doylestown, PA died Monday, September 14, 2015 at her home.

Mrs. Goff was born on February 22, 1937 in South Orange, NJ, the daughter of Francis C. McGeehan and Margaret Gannon McGeehan. After raising her children, she was an Manager for an Optometrist in Denville, NJ for 20 years. After retiring, Eileen was a volunteer at Assumption Church in Morristown, NJ.

She had a passion for reading and playing bridge. Mrs. Goff was preceded in death by her daughter, Lisa A. Goff. She is survived by her husband, Richard J.

Goff; daughters, Cynthia A. Schleckser (Brian of The Woodlands, TX and Susanne M. Welsh (James of Bluffton, SC; grandchildren, Jennifer M. Welsh, Christopher J. Welsh, (Lacey Welsh), Brian M.

Schleck- ser, Jr. (Blair), Michael Cody Schleckser; great-grandson, Robert C. Welsh; and many nieces and nephews. Memorial Mass will be celebrated at 12:30 pm, Saturday, September 26, 2015 at Assumption Church, 91 Maple Avenue, Morristown, NJ. A luncheon will be held at the Madison Hotel, Madison, NJ immediately following the mass.

The family requests memorials be made to Morris Plains Library, 77 Glenbrooke Road, Morris Plains, NJ 07950 in memory of Eileen P. Goff. EILEEN P. GOFF AGE: 78 FORMERLY OF MORRISTOWN obituaries Obituariesremainonline for90daysat DailyRecord xpress our con ATLANTIC CITY Much more than real estate changed hands as Stockton University bought and sold aformer Atlantic City casino it had hoped would be its long-sought satellite urban campus. The tortured deal saw a change of leadership at the southern New Jersey university, in which the president who energetically pushed the deal wound up step- ing down, and a lower-ranking administrator with one foot out the door on his way to another job wound up a ssuming the reigns of the university.

a look at what happened, and who did what in he Stockton-Showboat saga: Former president Herman Saatkamp was visionary leader during a period of extraordinary growth and at Stockton, a growing state university in the Atlantic City suburbs, according to an independent review of the Showboat deal commissioned by the university. But his zeal for the deal kept the board of trustees in the dark about key facts that might have caused Stockton to scrap the deal, according to the report. leadership style, and haste to obtain a pproval of the deal, hampered debate and, in this case, resulted in the board of trustees, which had already approved the transaction, not learning of critical the report said. Stockton bought the shuttered casino for $18 million in December from Caesars Entertainment. But conflicting legal restrictions on how the property could be sed soon surfaced.

Caesars Entertainment placed a deed restriction on it, saying it could never again be sed as a casino. But in 1988, the Trump Taj Mahal, Showboat and Resorts signed a covenant requiring the howboat not be used as anything other than a casino. The report said that when Saatkamp learned Trump Entertainment Resorts would not waive its rights under the covenant, he did not tell the board that, and also ailed to undertake meaningful negotiations with rump Entertainment to get it resolved. Saatkamp at one point threatened to resign if the deal was not approved, according to the report. In April, Saatkamp stepped down as president, saying he was taking medical leave.

In a response to the report, Saatkamp defended his handling of the Show- oat situation, and blamed outside counsel for not fully disclosing serious legal problems. in the report released today changes my fundamental, deeply rooted belief that as president of the university, I acted in the best interest of the university and the citizens of New Saatkamp said. actions, as recognized in the report, were well in- entioned and based upon any illicit motive or self- Current president While Saatkamp was dealing with the Showboat eal, Harvey Kesselman, a former Stockton student and longtime administrator, was preparing to begin his own college presidency at the University of Southern Maine, not Stockton. When the Showboat deal blew up in April, Stockton turned to Kesselman, who at the time was its provost and executive vice president. They asked him to stay through July 1and hopefully unravel the Gordian knot that the Showboat had become.

he very next day, he acknowledged publicly that Stockton had bitten too quickly on the Showboat deal, a nd said undoing it would be his top priority in the weeks he had left. He delivered the same message to a state Senate panel a few days later, and seemed to impress the lawmakers with his candor and can-do atti- ude in dealing with a difficult situation. I May, Kesselman gave up the Maine job, agreeing to stay on indefinitely at Stockton and finish the job of getting the university out from under the Showboat deal, which was costing it $500,000 a month to maintain abuilding it could not use. Last week, on the day trustees approved he latest sale of the property to Philadelphia developer Bart Blatstein for $22 million, they also agreed to make Kesselman their new permanent president, authorizing negotiations on a contract they expect to sign on Dec. 2.

Kesselman has shown exceptional leadership as well as the willingness to sacrifice his own interests uring a challenging said trustee chairwoman adeleine Deininger. the trustees asked him to stay on earlier this year and he agreed, there was a tremendous outpouring of support from the Stockton community, the region and the state. He has more than earned the full Showboat eal impacts 2 Stockton presidents ASSOCIATED PRESS AP Stockton University said Fridayit is selling the former howboat casino to Philadelphia developer Bart Blatstein for $22 million. Kesselman has shown exceptional leadership as well as the willingness to sacrifice his own interests during a challenging MADELEINE DEININGER TRUSTEE CHAIRWOMAN new jersey DENVILLE never too early to get on the right path, and students at Valleyview Middle School now ave the chance to get a jump start on high school by enrolling in select high school classes. The Denville Township School District, and spec ifically Valleyview Middle School, is working closely ith Morris Hills Regional District to provide opportunities for students to excel in the variety of academic pathways the MHRD Assistant superintendent Sandy Cullis said.

Valleyview Middle School is now offering Algebra 1, Honors Geometry, Honors Biology, Spanish 1, French 1, and French 2. Cullis said students and parents have previously reached out to the district seeking advance courses in the middle school that would allow them to fulfill prerequisites needed to take advanced high school classes. is a town where parents are looking for suc- ess for their Valleyview Principal Paul Iantosca said. we informed them and the students that this was an option. We made a concerted effort to get this information out to And the parents and students responded.

There are currently 156 seats filled through the six courses, with about 20 percent of Valleyview Middle chool taking at least one of the classes. wanted to create this advanced path to prepare ur students for high school, not just satisfy the state report Iantosca said. about setting up ach student on a pathway for success at the high school Students receive any high school credit for the advanced classes they still need to take the same umber of science and math classes in order to gradu- a te but laying the groundwork in middle school allows them to check off certain prerequisites for future advanced classes. The courses mean students have to double up on a math or take summer courses to get to the advanced classes by the time they finish high school, as an be the case. success of these programs relies on the col- laborative relationship developed with MHRD and the strong desire of our staff to offer differentiated programs that meet the needs of all Cullis said.

in these courses is not essential for success in the advanced high school pathways, but it does address a need for a specific population of our Cullis cautioned that just because a student excels i school, mean they should necessarily feel compelled to take one of the advanced courses. hate to say raising the Iantosca said. raising the execution, improving the path to move Iantosca said the courses should be used by students who have an idea what type of track they would ike to be on for college and a career. For example, if a tudent thinks they might want to be an engineer, getting a jump on Algebra and Geometry in middle chool would be a great start. Algebra 1is the most popular of the new courses, a nd got its start four years ago with a very small group students.

Spanish, French, and Geometry were added in the following years. ew additions this year are Honors Biology and rench 2, which only has one student this year who takes the course online from within the French 1class- oom. know if another middle school in the state offering Cullis said of the new courses. But students have been coming in stronger from the elementary schools. Some are just ready Entry into each course has certain requirements.

iology, for example, requires a pre-bio assessment that determines not only the knowledge of the subject but their ability to read college-level text- ooks. are kids that gave up half their recess to take the Iantosca said, referencing the additional lab period associated with the course. 45 out of the 217 eighth grade students applied for the biology class, and only 11were deemed eligible. want to fill spots just to fill Cullis said. fforts for the high school classes are currently fo- used on math, science, and world language, but Cullis said administration is currently developing an adv anced technology course.

It was a lot of work to do Cullis said. all Boards would take a risk like this so thankful for the Most students who leave Valleyview Middle School move onto Morris Knolls High School, while some do end up at Morris Hills High School for special programs. took a lot of cooperation from the Board of ducation, superintendents and assistant superintendents here and at the high school Iantosca said. thankfully we were all able to do it. At the end of he day all on the same page of doing best or our taff Writer Michael Izzo: 973-428-6636; Denville iddle school is offering igh school level classes MICHAEL IZZO wanted to create this advanced path to prepare our students for high school, not just satisfy the state report PAUL IANTOSCA VALLEYVIEW PRINCIP AL.