Janet Slater Lobsenz

The wise matriarch of our family, Janet Slater Lobsenz passed away on February 20, 2026, less than seven weeks short of her 90th birthday. She will be missed by all who knew her and mourned deeply by her family. Janet led a remarkable, accomplished life that combined her keen intellect with endless patience, an incredibly even temper, passion for community service, and wonderful nurturing skills. She was the grandchild of Paterson, New Jersey, silk manufacturer and civic leader Philip Dimond and wife Minne and Paterson/Newark merchant, banker, and civic leader Albert Slater and his wife Becky. Janet was the daughter of merchant and consultant Edward Slater and wife Ruth. Janet graduated from Cornell University, where she served as president of her sorority and guided the purchase of its first sorority house. While attending Cornell, she met attorney and future Air Force Lieutenant Theodore Lobsenz, who she married in March 1957. Ted and Janet raised three children in Glen Rock, New Jersey, teaching them to respect others, modesty, and honesty and instilling in them a love for problem-solving, engineering, travel, and history. While raising her brood, Janet managed to find time to serve as president of the local League of Women Voters, where she actively supported voter registration efforts, drives to clean up the Passaic River, and the local school budget. She helped to establish, and administered, Glen Rock's weekend school enrichment program, Saturday Scene. The program allowed children to follow their curiosity in diverse areas, including reptiles, finance, and native American culture and was profiled in the New York Times. Following a stint as the local PTA president, Janet ran for the Glen Rock Board of Education, securing a win by nine votes. She served on the Board for six years until 1981, including the final two as its president. During her tenure, she confronted and solved many difficult problems, including the closure of one of Glen Rock's four elementary schools due to declining enrollment, negotiating collective bargaining agreements with the local teacher's union, a lawsuit by a discharged but popular school administrator (the Board won), and dealing with a polarizing superintendent of schools. It was an unpaid, full-time job, but Janet embraced it despite the demands of her family life. And what a job she did to raise that family. Despite the hijinks and challenges of her children, she almost never yelled, preferring a soothing hug and encouragement and always seeking to find the underlying cause of any unhappiness as opposed to reacting to childhood outbursts. She fed the family extraordinarily well, teaching herself to cook and producing unforgettable dishes, including shish kebab, parmesan encrusted salmon, brisket, matzoh ball soup, crispy latkes, and baked Alaska on their birthdays. She was a genius in the kitchen, producing delectable meals in comparatively short periods of time. Fortunately for her survivors, she taught them how to prepare many of those dishes. When her youngest child graduated from high school, Janet embraced a new challenge: applying for and becoming a field representative for New Jersey School Boards. She served there for 18 years, advising local boards of education on everything - how to conduct superintendent searches, how to run meetings, and how to manage the schools without trying to run them. She developed a bit of a pro-employee bent, standing up for co-workers who she felt were being mistreated and opposing bad employment policies. Her knowledge of school finance was legendary; attorneys would seek advice from her on its complexities, and she wrote the seminal book on that arcane but important subject. She was so influential that the Bergen County School Boards Association annually bestows Janet S. Lobsenz award in her honor. For entertainment, Janet was a voracious reader and avid sports fan, particularly for the New York Mets and Giants. She regularly completed the New York Times crossword puzzle. She and son Jim regularly dueled in Scrabble, completing over 2,000 games against each other in-person and on-line. She and Ted also were skilled bridge players, competing regularly following their 2009 move from New Jersey to Texas. Janet also was a skilled craftswoman in knitting and needlepoint. She regularly produced gorgeous hats, sweaters, blankets, and artwork for her loved ones. Following the marriages of her children, Janet was an astonishingly good mother-in-law. She had a remarkable ability to figuratively bite her tongue but always offered sage advice and support whenever it was needed for both her children and grandchildren. Janet showed tremendous determination in her mid and late 80s, navigating through two shoulder replacement surgeries and other medical maladies. She even challenged herself with a knee replacement surgery at age 89, but she never fully recovered from that procedure. Janet was predeceased by her older sister Betty Slater Weisenfeld in 2013 and by her husband Ted in 2019. She is survived by her children - Andrew, Joanne, and Jim - their spouses - Susan, Scott and Eileen - and seven grandchildren - Alex, Sarah, Michael, David, Josh, Aaron, and Daniel - ranging in age from 19 to 31. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to: Capital Area Food Bank Austin PBS Anti-Defamation League Cornell University Please contact the family for memorial service details.

Janet Slater Lobsenz

April 8, 1936 - February 20, 2026