Susan Margaret Thomas

On January 9, 2026 the world may have lost Sue Thomas, but her warmth will endure in the hearts of all she touched.

Susan Margaret Thomas, Sue to her friends and family, was born on April 25, 1960 at an Air Force base in Wiesbaden, Germany where her father John Leonard Thomas, a WW2 bomber pilot was stationed along with Sue's mother Patricia Thomas (Waters) sisters Patti and Kathy, and brother JR.

During her father's military service, the family moved from NJ to Germany and back again with Sue growing up living a small-town farm life in Long Valley, and then in Califon where she resided until her passing.

While living in Germany her family did a lot of traveling throughout Europe which was when her love for travel was born.

Her mantra was "Life is about collecting experiences" and she certainly did just that. Not many people can say that they traveled to Rome for the weekend, was an emergency balloon driver for the Macys Day Parade or on one single afternoon in Greece jumped off a tall ship, swam to a hot spring then climbed a volcano, not to mention at the end of the night fell backwards off a cliff in Mykonos and popped up with a smile saying "I'm ok!"

She traveled the world extensively with her family and treasured friends. Riding an elephant in Thailand, climbing the Sydney Harbor bridge, seeing the northern lights in Norway, chartering a boat to watch the 4th of July fireworks in NY harbor, visiting New Zealand, Cambodia, Bangkok, Turkey, Morocco, Argentina, Patagonia, Spain, France, Ireland, England just to name a few. Sue always said that when she traveled, she felt that she was an ambassador for the USA and "we must set the example". She was proud of every stamp on her passport.

Sue attended the College of Saint Elizabeth from 1978 to 1980 before completing her nursing degree at Seton Hall in 1985.

The majority of Sue's professional career was spent at Overlook Medical Center. She began at Overlook Hospital as a nurse and assistant head nurse from 86-89 Patient Advocate 89-90 and Manager of Public Relations 89-95.

She then moved to the Overlook foundation where she held the roles of Director of Resource Development 95-98, Director of Annual Giving, 98-2001, Director of Special Events andPublications 2001-2004, Director of Major Gifts 2004-2007 and Director of Donor Relations & Stewardship 2007-2010.

In 2010 she left the foundation and returned back to the hospital as Manager of the Patient Experience and Volunteer Services and remained in that position until 2020.

Sue returned to the Saint Elizabeth University as Director of Development in 2021, transitioned to Director of Scholarship and Stewardship in 2024. She was passionate about supporting the Sisters of Charity and their mission of service.

Sue dedicated 34 years of her life to Overlook Medical Center. It was commonplace to find her still at work at 10pm. She was highly respected and had an impressive resume with a long list of accomplishments. When asked about her, her peers would say, most important was her personal touch, how she carefully cultivated relationships with people and about how she made them feel.

"She served as a voice of wisdom, confidence, and gentle reassurance"

"Her compassion towards all of those she met and her underlying wish to leave them better and comforted."

"Sue had an innate ability to be able to know what people needed. She did it with a grace and quiet confidence and that was what was so beautiful about her. She impacted and changed the lives of so many people"

Whether it was at work, or in her personal life Sue went above and beyond to help. As a personal favor she flew to Thailand to safely escort home the ashes of Dr. Henry Liss. She drove to Florida to rescue two senior dogs when she already had three of her own at home, because nobody else would. When a dying patient in the ICU wanted to see his service dog for the last time she quietly made it happen. She arranged a wedding ceremony for a patient who could not leave the hospital. She was proud of the work she did to help make the Thomas Glasser Caregiver's Center a reality, as well as the Pet Therapy program at Overlook. She would often bring her therapy dog Winnie to visit patients and staff.

Sue loved Maine and lobster, not necessarily in that order. On her many trips to Maine she would bring home not one, but two lobster rolls and a lobster pie for anybody that mentioned to her at one time or another that they liked lobster. If Sue asked you what she should bring to the barbecue and you replied "just bring yourself" it was a sure bet that she would show up with 10 ears of corn, 6 thick steaks and at least 2 pies.

A friend called Sue and said "my dog accidentally bit my foot when he attacked my vacuum…no its fine, it's just bleeding a little" 30 minutes later Sue is at the door with a bag filled with multiple sizes of Band-aids, multiple widths of gauze, 3 different ointments and a splint because Sue Thomas was Sue Thomas.

Perhaps her kindness stemmed from her strong faith. She was in church every Sunday, even in Rome when she accidentally participated in the ordination of a Cardinal. A note on her desk, written during Covid said "Prayer, faith and grace will have a guiding role through it all. Keep myself lifted to lift up others". That was Sue. She put others first. Always.

Sue had the uncanny ability to make you feel like you were the most important person in the world when she was talking to you. "When you spoke with her, you felt better" It was because Sue understood how to listen. When it was her turn to talk, she was a great storyteller. She would often tell stories that began with "when I was a little girl in Germany" and was able to convince you that she had vivid memories from the age of two when she saw a Leprechaun in the back hedge of her relative's house in Dublin.

Her love of storytelling was reflected in a hidden passion that she didn't often share with others. She worked on independent films, producing music videos and shorts. One story she did tell, was when she worked on a mobster movie and was given a nickname Q (Susie Q) by famous actor Frank Vincent. Frank pretended to forget his lines. Lines that were filled with swear words. In her role as script supervisor it was her job to feed him his lines if he forgot them. If you knew Sue, you know she would NEVER say those words out loud. As the true professional she always was, she repeated them back. It wasn't until the crew burst out laughing that she realized he was teasing her and she joined in. "Sue was a trickster" she knew how to take a joke.

You could have found Sue in Times Square at 4am pushing a dolly, on the Brooklyn Bridge in charge of playback during a music video shoot or at the Beverly Hills Film Festival with the team to promote the project. She loved that film friends called her "the strongest woman in America". It's a true story that on a movie set she picked up a couch while someone was sitting on it because he was taking too long to get up. Her last project was co-producing a beautiful branded short film that featured her sister, a horse gentler in North Carolina.

In the last weeks of her battle with cancer she was asked "howare you taking this so well? Is it because of your faith?" and she responded "No, it's because I'm Sue Thomas.

Be Kind, be loyal, be open to talking to someone who might not think the way you do, do not judge, listen, be generous, venture out of the bubble of your own life, travel the world if you canand collect experiences, be grateful for what you have, love your family, your god and your country…be like Sue.

She is survived by her sister Pat Pyrwood, brother, John R. Thomas, her family of Goldendoodles, Winnie, Luna, Smudge and George, her beloved friends and community.

Respecting Sue's wishes, there will be no wake or funeral. Interment to be held on Friday, January 16 at 11am at Middle Valley Cemetery, 41 Beacon Hill Road, Long Valley NJ. Friends and family are welcome to bear witness.

We kindly request that in place of flowers, donations be made in Sue's name to the Tunnel to Towers foundation, or the Wounded Warriors Project, two of the charities she had supported for years.