Ruth A. Blaser of Fair Haven passed away peacefully March 28, 2026, surrounded by the love of her family.
Born Dec. 12, 1937, in Elizabeth, to Ruth M. (Ohlson) and Leo A. Hauser, she was the eldest of five children. She spent her early years in Elizabeth and was active as a Rainbow Girl under the Order of the Eastern Star and as a Girl Scout.
Ruth was a proud graduate of Battin High School, where she earned various achievement awards and was a member of the cheerleading squad. She was a consummate learner, which served her well throughout her life.
Ruth married Edward R. Blaser of Roselle Park in 1955. They lived in Avenel, Ocean Gate and Rumson and had four sons, Douglas E., Robert F., Brian S. and Thomas E. Blaser. After they divorced, Ruth and her sons moved to Fair Haven in 1968 where she lived until her passing.
Early in her career, Ruth served as a legal secretary at local law firms, was a legislative aide and worked on the administrative team at the YMCA of Red Bank. But her career passion for more than 50 years was as a Realtor, working at local offices of A. Fred Mafeo, Gloria Nilson, E.A. Armstrong, Long and Foster and Compass Realty.
Ruth was very active in and devoted to the Fair Haven community. She coached girls’ softball, was a Webelos den mother and an International Representative for the Boy Scouts of America. She was a member of the P.T.A., among other organizations. She most enjoyed supporting the fire department, where she had many friends and enjoyed pitching in at the annual Spaghetti Dinner and Firemen’s Fair. She volunteered with the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary, the Visiting Nurses Association and Planned Parenthood and was a member of the Junior League. Ruth was on the teams that initiated First Night at the town, county and state levels. She was active in the senior communities of Fair Haven, Red Bank and Sea Bright, where she held various leadership roles and enjoyed casual get-togethers with the lunch-bunch group and fellow bingo enthusiasts.
Her calling, though, was closer to home, where she was a long-standing member and an active and impactful voice of Fair Haven’s Concerned Citizen organization, a watchdog group, and a committee leader of the Be a Good Neighbor program. Ruth lived out her commitment to create a community that respected and engaged its senior citizens, confronting borough matters that threatened the ability of the town’s seniors to afford to live in a town they had helped create decades earlier. She was a force to be reckoned with and a voice of reason for the community and left an impact that will be felt for years to come.
Ruth had a penchant for seeing value in everything, which fed her perennial yard sales and availability of items to the freecycle community, where she was fondly known by her email monicker, houselady.
Ruth was predeceased by her parents and grandson Nathaniel (Brian) and is survived by her siblings, Marjorie Norton, Richard, Alan and Jeffery Hauser; her four sons; three daughters-in-law, Pat, Elaine and Donna; eight grandchildren, Fallon, Curtis, Elliott, Mackenzee, Bryce, Simon, Sarah and Erin; and six great-grandchildren, Luna, Zelda, Oriana, Leonardo, Charlotte and Harrison.
In Ruth’s honor, donations may be made to Planned Parenthood, 69 Newman Springs Road, Shrewsbury, NJ 07702; Clean Ocean Action, 49 Avenel Blvd., Long Branch, NJ 07740, or a charity of your choosing.
Thompson Memorial Home of Red Bank has been entrusted with the arrangements.
The article originally appeared in the April 16 – 22, 2026 print edition of The Two River Times.
