Sylvia M. Babbitt

Sylvia Miller Babbitt, 87, of Princeton, died October 28 at Merwick.

Born in New York City to the late Frances Siegel Miller and Joseph W. Miller, M.D., she grew up in Manhattan where her mother's piano playing and her father's love of opera resulted in a lifelong love of music. Her father's ear, nose, and throat practice brought the family friendships with Eddie Cantor, Fanny Brice, and Al Jolson, among others.

A graduate of Washington Square College, N.Y.U. in 1937, she continued her education at Columbia University in sociological statistics.

In December, 1939 she married Milton Babbitt. Together they lived in an apartment in Palmer Square where Mr. Babbitt had been living since he began teaching at Princeton University in 1938. They later moved to the former Paul Elmer More house on Nassau Street, during which time she worked as a statistician at 20 Nassau.

She moved to Washington in 1942, where she worked for the War Production Board.

After the war the Babbitts moved to New York. They remained living there when her husband returned to Princeton University in 1950. In New York she worked in the field of market research. By the 1960s they lived in both New York and Princeton.

Her time in Princeton was devoted to Meals on Wheels, from its inception until 1998. She also served as president of the Broadmead Swim Club for many years, and made crocheted baby blankets for her friends.

She is survived by her husband, Milton; a daughter, Betty Ann Babbitt Duggan of Massachusetts; a sister, Dorothy Saiken Blum of Maryland; and two grandchildren.

Memorial contributions may be made to Meals on Wheels, c/o American Red Cross of Central New Jersey, 707 Alexander Road, Suite 101, Princeton 08540.