A fun-loving space traveler. A Yankees first baseman who played with DiMaggio and Berra. The man who invented frozen pizza. A career public servant who kept the Garden State's trains and buses running on time.
Those were among the notable and intriguing North Jerseyans who died in 2007.
A look back in tribute:
Byron Baer, 77, on June 24. A liberal Democrat from Englewood, he marched for civil rights and spent 34 years as a New Jersey assemblyman and state senator. Baer's signature legislation was the so-called Sunshine Law, which forced elected officials to conduct the people's business in the open.
Lillian Booth, 92, on Nov. 22. The Alpine socialite gave away millions to Columbia University, the Actors' Fund Home in Englewood and her favorite cause, Pascack Valley Hospital in Westwood. The latter closed one day before she died.
Bernard Brooks, 72, on Oct. 27. Teaneck's first black mayor served for six years in the '80s and brought his expertise as a financial and management consultant to Township Hall.
William DeMarco, 61, on Sept. 3. Born in Paterson, this criminal defense attorney was known as much for his sharp wardrobe as for his courtroom aggressiveness. Among his high-profile clients were Passaic Mayor Sammy Rivera and one of the students who set the fatal Seton Hall University dorm fire.
Herbert Gallen, 92, on Sept. 22. The Paterson native founded the Ellen Tracy women's fashion line.
Trudie Griffin, 104, on Sept. 21. "I'm not stubborn," this beloved pillar of Hackensack's African-American community once said. "If I'm right, it ain't stubborn." She was a member of New Hope Baptist Church for nearly 80 years.
Eleanor Harvey, 97, on July 22. An indefatigable promoter of Englewood, she founded the local Historical Society and pushed for the revitalization of the Liberty Square area.
Anthony Just, 81, on Dec. 7. Son of a Secaucus pig farmer, he battled to preserve open space while mayor of the Meadowlands town in the '90s.
Dick Kryhoski, 82, on April 10. The only Leonia native to make it to the big leagues, Kryhoski played first base for the world champion '49 Yankees.
Dr. John Lattimer, 92, on May 10. The world-famous urologist from Englewood helped investigate the assassination of John F. Kennedy. His ballistic tests supported the Warren Commission's findings that Lee Harvey Oswald likely fired the fatal shots from Dallas' Texas School Book Depository.
Matilda Lisanti, 98, on July 9. The Passaic native was matriarch of Lisanti Foods, once a big name in the pizza supply industry.
William McDowell, 80, on April 13. "Finally, someone is going to be in charge of the store," the Republican said after Bergen voters made him the first county executive in 1986. He served one term, and was later Bergen County sheriff.
Hank Morgenweck, 78, on Aug. 7. The major league umpire from Teaneck called balls and strikes for Nolan Ryan's fourth no-hitter.
Harold Pareti, 85, on Sept. 30. The former Republican mayor of Carlstadt picked a bad year to run for Congress -- 1974, when President Richard Nixon's resignation doomed many a GOP candidate.
Linn Pierson, 60, on April 8. Supervisor of operations at Palisades Interstate Park, she was one of New Jersey's foremost protectors of endangered birds of prey.
Suzanne Platoff, 82, on July 27. A longtime activist in Englewood, she battled to integrate the city's schools in the '60s.
Bob Potts, 71, on Oct. 23. This Fair Lawn baseball legend was the driving force behind the amateur Metropolitan League -- for some, a steppingstone to the pros.
Walter "Wally" Schirra, 84, on May 3. The wise-cracking Oradell native was the first New Jersey space traveler and the only man to fly in each of NASA's first three programs -- Mercury, Gemini and Apollo. "I'm having a ball up here drifting," he said during his first space flight, in 1962.
Joseph Settineri, 92, on April 2. The frozen pizzas he peddled in Garfield 60 years ago gave rise to what is now a $3.3 billion-a-year industry.
Stella Tencza, on Sept. 11. The 300 game she bowled in Hackensack on Feb. 15, 1956, was the capstone of a dominant 55-year career on the lanes. The Wallington resident was a charter member of the Bergen County Women's Bowling Association Hall of Fame.
Earl Ubell, 80, on May 29. The science and medical journalist, who lived in Hackensack, interviewed Albert Einstein for the New York Herald Tribune but is best remembered for his tenure at WCBS-TV Channel 2.
David Waks, 66, on July 18. As mayor of Wayne in the '90s, the self-described "ornery cuss" helped restore integrity to a corruption-scarred local government. He later served as a Superior Court judge.
George Warrington, 55, on Dec. 24. Raised in Ridgefield Park, Warrington ran NJ Transit from 2002 to 2007. He focused on customer service and convinced New York officials of the need for a new rail tunnel under the Hudson River.
E-mail: levin@northjersey.com
