Obituaries

Stephen J. Pribula, 84, of Middletown, New Jersey, passed away on May 8th, 2026, three days before he would have turned eighty-five.

He came into the world on Mother's Day, 1941. His mother called him the best gift she could have hoped for, and he spent the rest of his life fulfilling her belief.

Stephen was the Valedictorian of Delbarton School’s Class of 1959. He would go on to earn his degree from Princeton University in 1963, with a special certificate from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs; and his J.D. from Columbia Law School in 1966, where he was named a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar. After Columbia he went directly into the United States Air Force, serving from 1966 to 1972 as a Titan II missile officer at McConnell Air Force Base, and a Judge Advocate at Torregon in Spain. During his time as Liaison Officer at the U.S. Embassy in Tripoli, Libya, he held the historic distinction as one of the last American officers remaining after the base closure. At the end of his service term, he was appointed as a military judge and obtained the rank of Captain.

He had a gift for being exactly where history was happening and saying very little about it afterward. He once sat in a Princeton classroom when John F. Kennedy interrupted his professor's lecture during the Cuban Missile Crisis. He interviewed Barry Goldwater for a Princeton University Student Radio program during his presidential campaign.

After his honorable discharge he returned to the law, admitted to the New York Bar in 1967 and the New Jersey Bar in 1979, eventually establishing his own practice in Chatham in 1980, where he served his community for nearly three decades in real property, trusts, and estates. He served as Borough Councilman from 1986 to 1989, led the Chatham Chamber of Commerce, wrote a weekly legal column that earned him the New Jersey Bar Association Communications Award in 1983, and gave of himself to the Chatham United Way and the Fish and Game Association. To live in Chatham was to know Stephen Pribula. For nearly thirty years his name was on a sign on Main Street, in the same location where his parents had once run a grocery store for twenty years.

He was married to Roberta Retana from 1967 until her death in 1992. They had three children, Benjamin, Anastasia, and Alexander.

In 1993, he wed Laurie Savage, and adopted her children Adam, Tricia, and Ted and raised all six children in his newly founded Brady Bunch.

He had a capacity to bring calm into a crisis without raising his voice or losing his sense of humor, which was dry, quick, and entirely his own. His grandchildren called him Popsy and thought the world of him. They were unanimous in their assessment that Popsy’s hugs were the best.

For years he was Santa Claus to the children of Chatham and spent many hours greeting families at the Chatham gazebo.   When pressed, he would admit he was a close and personal friend of Santa.

Beyond the law and his family and the Santa suit, he truly was a Renaissance man. A self-taught painter, he painted all things that amused him and shared his gift with his family. He gardened with the same quiet excellence and knew the Latin names of all his plants. He loved golf and was a proud longtime member of Mendham Golf and Tennis Club. He wrote fiction with the warmth and wit of a man somewhere between Jean Shepherd and Bob Newhart, and his novel Death by Syrup is the most concentrated evidence of both. His love of books was unsurpassed and found joy explaining to others all about his recent discoveries.  In the last several years he spent many happy hours researching and writing a full biography on his family history.

He is survived by his loving wife, Laurie; his children Benjamin (Ann Marie) Pribula, Alexander Pribula, Anastasia (Anthony) DeMaio, Adam (Gabrielle) Pribula, Tricia (Lee) Frankenfield, and Ted (Andrea) Pribula;  and his grandchildren Colleen, Jessica, Marco, Nico, Matthew, Bella, Erica, Cara, Eva, Gwen, Erin, Claire, and Thomas.

His faith in Christ was sincere and quietly held. Stephen and Laurie were members of The Presbyterian Church of Chatham Township and after moving to Middletown in 2018, joined Tower Hill Church. He was a man who embodied Psalm 46:10, “Be still, and know that I am God”. His family takes comfort knowing he has gone home to our Lord, and to his parents he deeply missed and loved.

Memorial Visitation will be held on Sunday, May 17th from 1-4 pm at Thompson Memorial Home, 310 Broad St, Red Bank, NJ 07701. A Funeral Service will be held on Monday, May 18th at 11 am at Tower Hill Presbyterian Church, 255 Harding Rd, Red Bank, NJ 07701. Interment is private.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in memory of Stephen Pribula to the Boys and Girls Club of Monmouth County Red Bank, https://bgcmonmouth.org/locations/red-bank/  or the Tunnel to Towers Foundation, https://t2t.org/.