Susan Kampmeier Stein, age 78, passed away from heart failure in Princeton, New Jersey, on the evening of November 11, 2024, surrounded by loving family members.
Born and raised in Chattanooga, Tennessee, Susan graduated from Chattanooga City High School in 1964, honored as valedictorian. She also was a star basketball player, retaining prowess with an almost unstoppable left hook shot into her 70s.
She received her B.A. from Oberlin College in 1968, after a year of study abroad at the American University of Beirut in 1967, and her M.S. from MIT in 1972. She met her husband George H. Stein while studying in Boston; they were married in 1973.
A devoted wife and mother, she worked many years as a registered dietician and laboratory researcher, always actively engaged in volunteer projects, building communities and friendships wherever she went. Together with her husband, she led an adventurous life, living in Atlanta, GA; Burlington, NC; Charlotte, NC; Miami, FL; New York City, NY; Los Angeles, CA; Munich, Germany; and Teaneck, NJ, before ultimately settling in Princeton in 1996.
Throughout her life, she was committed to alleviating childhood malnutrition and the dire effects of poverty on women and children. She launched her efforts in this area with a summer working for the United Nations in Guatemala in 1968, continued her dedication through work in public health on women’s, infants’ and children’s nutrition, and brought this passion on into her volunteer work in Central New Jersey with the emergency shelter program of HOME SC (Housing Outreach Multi-faith Empowerment of Somerset County, NJ), then known as the Interfaith Hospitality Network of Somerset County; Arm In Arm, previously known as the Crisis Ministry of Princeton; and TASK (Trenton Area Soup Kitchen), especially through the food donation drive “Yes We Can” that she and her husband helped organize in 2009 in response to the financial crisis.
She particularly enjoyed treating children with genetic disorders of metabolism, such as cystic fibrosis, in Florida, and a “second career” as technician and researcher in the Barry Jacobs lab of the Psychology Department of Princeton University, contributing to key research into the functioning of serotonin in the brain. Known by friends and family for her scientific research abilities, she also worked informally as a patient advocate supporting several friends and family members including during her eldest daughter’s childhood cancer and her father’s struggle with Parkinson’s disease.
While living in California, she completed her conversion to Judaism — her faith in God served as a guide and a source of strength throughout her life. In Munich, Germany, between 1990–95, she and her husband founded what was to become Beth Shalom, the first liberal Jewish congregation in Munich since the end of World War II. She hosted holiday parties, taught the 8-11-year-old class at the group’s Jewish Sunday School, and organized religious services. She led families to make Chanukah candles from bags full of wax remnants of candles held high during a major public demonstration against xenophobia in Munich in 1992. Her warmth and welcoming spirit enabled many “lost” German and East European Jews to reclaim their heritage.
No celebration was complete without her smile and laughter, but just to be sure, she also brought her famous apple crisps and hazelnut tortes. For these cakes, she faithfully followed a traditional recipe from the Jewish communities on either side of the Rhine, which was passed down through the family via George’s grandmother, “Grossmama,” who was born in the Saarland. The hazelnut tortes were so prized that she was requested to fly them cross-country to family Pesach celebrations in Palo Alto and Salt Lake City.
In addition to maintaining lifelong friendships across decades and continental distances, she enjoyed fellowship, friendship, and community in Princeton, particularly with the extended family of David and Liz Cohen, neighbors for over 28 years, through the MIT Club of Princeton, and as an active member of the Walnut-Cuyler-Dempsey Potluck group.
She was preceded in death by her parents, Sophia “Sally” (Wass) Kampmeier and Roland August Kampmeier; an unborn son, “Charlie”; her sister, Ann (Kampmeier) Qualman; her sister-in-law, Astri Reusch; her father’s second wife, Silbia Scott Kampmeier; and several adored aunts, uncles, cousins, in-laws, and dear friends. She is survived by her husband of 51 years, George H. Stein; daughter Ada Laura Stein and grandson Erik Thorsteinsson; daughter Jannon Sonia Stein; daughter Julia Caroline Kampmeier Stein, son-in-law Lars Berg, and grandchildren Sono Aiden Berg Stein and Aletta Henriette Berg Stein; her brother William “Bill” Kampmeier (Paige); brother-in-law Samuel Stein (Gail); brother-in-law Fred Stein (Sue); sister-in-law Ada Mae Crouse (Irvin); and beloved nieces, nephew-in-law, grandnieces of both kinds, godchildren, cousins, and cherished friends around the world.
Her memorial service will be on December 7 at 3 p.m. at Congregation Kehilat Shalom in Belle Mead.
In lieu of flowers, donations are welcome to one or more of the following organizations Susan cared about: HOME SC (homescnj.org); the Audubon Society to Protect Birds (audubon.org); the Watershed Institute (thewatershed.org/donate); the ACLU of New Jersey (aclu-nj.org); the World Wildlife Federation (worldwildlife.org); Arm In Arm (arminarm.org); TASK (trentonsoupkitchen.org); and the Barre (Vt.) Historical Society (oldlaborhall.org).
She will be dearly missed.