Doris Kislin Pinsley, loving wife, mother and respected member of the Red Bank business community, passed away peacefully Jan. 4, 2022, at her home in Rumson at the age of 96. Her family was by her side.
Doris was born Sept. 1, 1925, in Long Branch to Leon and Fannie Kislin. She graduated from Red Bank High School in 1943, where she was voted “most fashionable” by her classmates.
She met a young Army officer, Richard Pinsley, at Fort Monmouth. Richard and Doris fell in love and married Aug. 1, 1943. When Richard was given the opportunity to teach engineering at the University of Illinois, he and Doris packed up the family, including their two daughters, Shawn and Blair, and moved to Morton Grove, Illinois, outside of Chicago. After a few years they came back home to Red Bank to take over the Kislins Department Store on Front Street from Doris’s father Leon. Doris ran her parents’ business successfully for the next 40 years, first with Richard and later with her daughter Shawn. “If you couldn’t find it at Kislin’s, you could probably do without.”
Doris loved spending time with her family and friends and enjoyed wintering at her home at Frenchman’s Creek in Florida. She was an avid pickle ball and bocce ball player. She also loved playing bridge and canasta with her many Frenchman’s Creek friends. She collected artwork from around the world, particularly Asian works.
She was predeceased by Richard, the love of her life, in 2004.
Doris is survived by her daughters, Shawn Pinsley and Blair Richter; grandchildren Street Sylvestri, Houston Illo and Sierra Richter; and great-grandson Scotch Sylvestri.
She will be greatly missed by her family and friends here in Rumson and in Florida.
Doris was a member of Congregation B’nai Israel in Rumson. Services will be private.
The article originally appeared in the January 27 – February 2, 2022 print edition of The Two River Times.
