I. Lloyd Gang

I. Lloyd Gang, of Newton, Massachusetts, formerly of Stockton, New Jersey, died peacefully at home among family and friends on May 25, 2011. Mr. Gang was 88.

Mr. Gang was born October 13, 1922 in Passaic, New Jersey, the son of Solomon and Jennie R. Gang. He was raised in Glen Ridge, New Jersey, where he attended local schools. He graduated from Amherst College in 1943, where he majored in French and was on the ski and fencing teams and was a member of the Lord Jeff Society. In 1949 he graduated from Yale Law School after serving in the Pacific Theater as a lieutenant in the Army Air Corps during World War II.

In 1950 he married Ruth Leon Jacoby of East Orange, whom he met at a post-war party in New Haven. They settled in Upper Montclair, New Jersey, where they raised three children and were both active in community and professional work. In 1960 the family began spending summers in Shelter Island, New York, where Mr. Gang was a member of the Shelter Island Yacht Club and the Shelter Island Gun Club, and where he found time to enjoy family, friends and nature.

Mr. Gang was a leader and award recipient in numerous professional, charitable, educational and civic organizations in Hunterdon County, Passaic and Montclair. He practiced law for his entire professional life, and was a partner with Sullivan, Sullivan, Gang & Woods in Passaic and later with Gang & Smith in Montclair. He was passionate about the environment, and much of his civic work focused on conservation and land-use planning, including serving on the landmark NJ Commission on the Meadowlands in 1963. Noted for his cool demeanor when civic tempers rose, Mr. Gang was an invaluable leader and trustee of the public interest. He always kept his wits and his witticisms about him. Speaking of what would come to be called environmental concerns, he often quoted Pogo to his conservation colleagues: “We have met the enemy, and he is us.”

He was active in the Boy Scouts of America and received Scouting’s prestigious Silver Beaver award for his service as President of Aheka Council. Mr. Gang took pride in seeing his son and two of his grandsons earn their Eagle Scout badges, the highest award for Boy Scouts.

Mr. Gang enjoyed sailing, tennis, collecting, salmon fishing, hunting upland game, travel with his outdoor buddies and Ruth, and frequent family gatherings. He remained a loyal son of Amherst, attending virtually every annual Homecoming and Class Reunion until ill health prevented him. To his great pride, his son and two grandchildren followed his footsteps to “the fairest college.”

Mr. Gang and his wife bred and raised several generations of distinguished German Shorthaired Pointers, beginning with Von Holster’s Caprice in the late 1950s. He is survived by the last of this line, Mariah's Stormalong Delaware (Dela).

Mr. and Mrs. Gang retired to Stockton, New Jersey, where they enjoyed the landscape, wildlife and historic preservation. In Stockton, Mr. Gang was an active member and President of the Amwell Valley Conservancy and the New Jersey Conservation Foundation, among other local organizations. After Mrs. Gang’s death in 2004, Mr. Gang moved to Massachusetts to be near family.

Mr. Gang is survived by a son, Stephen R. Gang and his wife Gail G. Gang of Manchester, Massachusetts, daughter Meredith G. Bergmann and her husband Michael P. Bergmann of New York, New York, and daughter Laura J. Gang and her husband Steven J. Gag of Roslindale, Massachusetts. He is also survived by a sister, Millicent G. Anisfield and her husband, Richard C. Anisfield, as well as three nieces and seven grandchildren.

The family wishes to thank Akua Boateng, Mr. Gang’s caregiver for the past three years, for her caring support and assistance.

There will be a private burial service at the Rosemont Cemetery in Stockton, New Jersey under the direction of the Holcombe-Fisher Funeral Home, 147 Main Street, Flemington, NJ. For more information, please contact Laura Gang at lgang2@comcast.net or 617-469-2506.

Donations in Mr. Gang’s memory may be made to the New Jersey Conservation Foundation, 170 Longview Road, Far Hills, New Jersey 07931 or www.njconservation.org; to Hospice of the Good Shepherd, 2042 Beacon Street, Newton, MA 02469 or www.hospicegoodshepherd.org; or to Bikes Not Bombs – Ghana Program, 284 Amory Street, Jamaica Plain, MA 02130 or http://bikesnotbombs.org/international.