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Gideon G. Panter, M.D., a longtime resident of Palisades, N.Y., passed away on December 23, 2020. Born on April 24, 1935 in Montreal, he was a renowned physician of Obstetrics and Gynecology in private practice for over 50 years, and an associate professor of OB/GYN at Weill Cornell Medical College. He was an expert in women's health and infertility, and an innovator in surgical technology.

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Paul A. Papay passed away on December 21 after a valiant battle with lung disease and rare infections. He was 59.

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Caroline Rosalie Tapley (née Southall), born in London in 1934, died in her sleep at home in Piermont, NY, on December 22, 2020. She earned a degree in English from Oxford University and, until the end of her life, could always be relied upon to provide the correct word.

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Grace Knowlton, artist and longtime resident of Snedens Landing, died on December 4th. Grace moved to Snedens in 1967 when she and her husband, Winthrop Knowlton, bought an old farm and converted the barn into a beautiful living space with the help of architect Hugh Hardy. She and Win moved in with their two daughters, Eliza and Samantha, and Win’s three sons from his first marriage, Win Jr., Chris and Oliver.

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Norbert I. Swislocki passed away after a long illness on Sunday, June 21, 2020 at his home on the river in Grand View-on-Hudson, New York. Norbert was born in 1936 in Warsaw, Poland. In 1939, after the Nazis bombed Warsaw, he escaped with his mother to Vilnius, where they joined his father, a journalist, who was following the Polish Army. In Vilnius, the Swislockis were able to obtain one of the historic Sugihara visas, named for the Japanese consul, which enabled them to cross the Soviet Union and reach Kobe, Japan. They departed from Japan on a boat and reached Shanghai, China shortly before Pearl Harbor and remained there throughout WWII.

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David A. Englander, attorney and longtime Palisades resident, died on September 1 at the age of 74. David will be remembered as “a gentleman and a gentle man,” as one colleague said, and as a man whose first priority was his family - Judy Rafel Englander, his wife of 48 years; his daughters, Emily Englander and Freya Sakamoto; his sons-in-law, Marc Field and Kazuo Sakamoto; and his grandchildren, Nathan, 15, Ruby, 12 and Kai, 9.

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Dr. Virginia M. McCauley, 98, passed away peacefully on Sunday, August 9, 2020. Virginia was born on October 14, 1921 in Brooklyn, NY but grew up in Queens. She was married to Joseph A. McCauley, Sr. with whom she had two children, Joseph and Diane. She married a second time to William Cook in 1998.

James Stanley Harrison died on May 24 at the age of 84. A debonair music professor who grew up in St. Louis, Missouri, he graduated from Harvard in 1957 with a bachelor of arts degree in music. His music training continued after college at the American Conservatory in Fontainebleau, France. It was there that he met Marina Biaggi, a piano student in college, who was also studying under the renowned Nadia Boulanger. The couple married a year later and lived for a time in France and Switzerland, where James was an apprentice to German conductor Herrman Scherchen.

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Columbia University has appointed Dr Maureen Raymo Interim Director of Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory. Mo, as she is known to friends and colleagues, is one of the world’s leading oceanographers and climate scientists and the first woman scientist to head Lamont.

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During a rare moment of relaxation in late February, Dr. Nanci Levine reclined in a hammock in Costa Rica and contemplated semi-retirement as Associate Director of the Labor Floor at Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx. Decades as an OBGYN specializing in high-risk pregnancies had an intensity she relished, but the unpredictable schedule, ten-hour days and a relentless battle for resources were getting to her. The plan was to set a less punishing schedule and pursue some pet projects.

Women have always played an important part in Palisades history, but two of them especially stand out. Molly Sneden was indisputably the most powerful woman in the community for part of the 18th century. Born Maria Dobbs in Westchester in 1709, she married Robert Sneden in 1731. By 1745 she, Robert and eight children were living in a house by the Hudson in Paliades and running the ferry to Dobbs Ferry. After Robert died in 1753, Molly took over the running of the ferry, helped by her oldest sons.

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Robin Howard Roberts, actress and folk singer of traditional music, died at 92 in her home in Tivoli, New York on May 27. Her daughter Caitlin Langstaff and grandson Jack were with her. Robin was Cristina Biaggi's and Marina Harrison's cousin and lived in Palisades for two years when she was a child, attending Florence Babcock' school on Washington Spring Road.

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James Stanley Harrison, August 29, 1935 - May 24, 2020, of Palisades, New York died peacefully Sunday, May 24th. A prominent music educator, James was much loved by nearly three decades of students at Hunter College in New York City. He was responsible for instituting a leading curriculum for classical music theory and an educational pedagogy that many continue to employ today.

Alice Gerard

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We are living through the worst pandemic in a hundred years, and we live in the area that has the most cases in the United States. But so far none of us have gotten sick, and, as you can see in this newsletter, our members are navigating the situation with grace and courage.

There is even occasional humor, for example the story of my toilet paper purchase. At the beginning of April, fearing I would run out, I went on-line and ordered ten rolls of toilet paper from Amazon. But it didn’t come, and it didn’t come. When I tracked the package, I learned that my toilet paper had started in Saudi Arabia, then gone to Bahrein, then to Bulgaria, then to Germany, and then to Cincinnati. It finally arrived, perfectly normal toilet paper except for its incredible journey.

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William David McGivney died on March 18 at home in Grand View-on-Hudson, New York. He was 89. Bill was born in Maspeth, New York to Joseph and Margaret Delaney McGivney. He graduated Magna Cum Laude from St. John's University and was a veteran of the United States Navy. Mr. McGivney joined Wells, Rich and Green Advertising upon its founding and rose from Director of Creative Services to Executive Vice President. He was appointed a member of its Board, Director of Administration and Finance and Office of the Chairman of Wells, Rich and Green Worldwide. According to a co-worker, as the agency grew to become a powerhouse, Bill became the glue between the clients, their account management and the creative staff. His creative flair and dedication to the "promise" translated to the highest level of creative production.

Reverend William Powell Saum II passed away peacefully on December 18, 2019, in Orangeburg, New York. He was 76.

Duncan Bell and Jennifer Guinta
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In the spring of 2018, after successful business careers, Jennifer Giunta and Duncan Bell created Cottage Creek Gardens. They set up a plant stand on Route 9W in front of their half acre Valley Cottage property with a plan to sell plants they had grown from seed, as well as from plugs obtained from wholesale nurseries, and those they had propagated from cuttings and divisions. Several months later, after finding it difficult to secure their plants at night, the couple moved their offerings into their yard next to the house.

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world.
Margaret Mead

You’d think writing about a person like Eileen Larkin would be easy. It’s not. Eileen is a woman of enormous talent and drive. As her friend Susan Nemesdy says, she is “a force.”

Close your eyes and imagine a world where bread is the staff of life. Where flour, water, salt and time make for a primal alchemy – no thoughts of carbohydrates, gluten intolerance, or spongy tastelessness. It’s a nice place, isn’t it? Grandview native Chase Harnett, owner of The Hudson Oven, gets you there with gorgeous loves of fragrant, chewy sourdough dense with his passion for the craft. This is bread as it should be. The trick is finding it.

Judy Setsuko Hata and her husband Jack set down roots in Palisades before actually moving into their Dakota Street home. In 1956, after a drive to Congers to explore places to live, the newly engaged couple drove back along RT 303. Turning into Oak Tree, they were attracted to a model home for a new housing development, Palisades Gardens. They put a down payment on the last corner lot, then patiently waited a year to move in on September 1, 1957. Sixty-three years later she’s still here.