Emily Van Ness Schurin

Emily Van Ness Schurin, 68, died Tuesday, June 14 after a long battle with cancer. Emily leaves behind her husband Ron, sons Zachary and Matthew, daughter-in-law Leah Kamin, grandson Daniel, and brother Jim and wife Anna, sister Deirdre and husband Ron, brother Michael, sister Molly and husband Jim, and many nieces and nephews. Born in New York City, Emily was raised in Ohio and New Jersey. She attended Bennington College and later graduated from New York University. In her twenties and thirties Emily became an outstanding journalist, winning awards as a general assignment and business reporter for The Trenton Times, producing a highly recognized public television documentary on rural poverty in New Jersey, and writing articles for The Nation, Ms., The New York Times and other national publications. In 1976 she received a Sloan Foundation Fellowship to study economics journalism at the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton University, where she met her husband. Emily took a partial break from her professional work in the 1980s to devote herself to her two sons. As her children grew, Emily resumed her career, becoming in the early 1990s a pioneer in the field of internet-based health communications. Over the past 25 years she contributed her talents to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the National Women?s Health Resource Center, Mount Sinai Hospital in New York, and several internet startups. She also taught journalism at Rutgers University. Emily was, above all, devoted to her family, including her mother and father, whom she helped care for in their later years; her brothers and sisters and their spouses and children; her husband, with whom she shared 36 years of life?s challenges and rewards; and the two sons who were the light of her life. In recent years she was delighted to include her daughter-in-law Leah into her life and, in these last months, to welcome her grandson Daniel into the world. Emily?s family wishes to thank the many dedicated physicians, nurses, aides and others whose outstanding care lengthened Emily?s time with us, gave her comfort and peace, and made this difficult period bearable for us all. The family will hold calling hours on Friday, June 17, from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. at Potter Funeral Home, 456 Jackson Street (Route 195), Willimantic. There will be a memorial service on Saturday, June 18 at 2:00 p.m. at Hope Lutheran Church, 62 Dog Lane, Storrs. Interment will take place on Friday, June 24, at 12:00 noon at Princeton Cemetery, 29 Greenview Avenue, Princeton, NJ. Contributions in Emily?s memory may be made to the Peace Action Education Fund, 40 Witherspoon Street, Princeton, NJ 08542; Hartford Hospital CB-2, c/o Hartford Hospital Fund Development, 80 Seymour Street, Hartford, CT 06102; or an organization of the sender?s choice.