Alexander (Sandy) Van Rensselaer Halsey passed away peacefully March 5, 2026, at the age of 95 in Bluffton, South Carolina, surrounded by his children and devoted caregiver, Lisa.
He was born June 24, 1930, in New York City to Charles Day Halsey and Helen Pendergast Halsey, longtime residents of Rumson.
He graduated from Princeton University in 1951. Later that year, he entered Officer Candidate School and was commissioned as an ensign in the U.S. Navy. He served four years aboard the Fletcher-class destroyer the Cowell (DD547) during the Korean War and was honorably discharged in 1955.
He met his wife, Martha (Marty) Lucretia Talcott Blankarn, at Seabright Beach Club in 1943 and they married March 10, 1951. They spent 72 devoted years together until she passed away in 2023.
His career in finance began at Smith Barney in 1956. He then worked at J.P. Morgan for 25 years before retiring from U.S. Trust Company in 1989. He was very proud of his involvement in helping to create today’s ACH, CHIPS and DTC systems in the mid-1960s. He was also instrumental in introducing Europe to the idea of automating banking operations via computers and installing this new system at JPM’s branches in Brussels and Paris.
He was a board member of the New York Clearing House, American Bankers Association, Bank Administration Institute and Cultural Council Foundation in New York, and Children’s Psychiatric Center (CPC) in Red Bank. Locally, he was a member of the Rumson Country Club, Seabright Beach Club and Sea Bright Lawn Tennis & Cricket Club, where he enjoyed sailing, swimming, tennis, golf and fishing in the waters of New Jersey.
Exploring nature and fishing were his passions. He and Marty traveled to Africa eight times and sought out what life had to offer on almost every continent, as well as throughout the U.S. Their annual fishing trips to Cape Cod, Wyoming and Idaho were special highlights in the summer.
For 61 years, their home base was Locust. Summers were spent in the Adirondacks from 1967 to 2009 and, for 23 years, the winter months were spent on the islands of Kauai and Maui, Hawaii. In 2021, they sold their home in Locust and moved to Palmetto Bluff in Bluffton, South Carolina.
Gregarious in nature, Sandy loved the excitement of the circus, the explosions of fireworks and the fight of reeling in “a big one,” but his biggest smiles came from telling his stories to anyone and everyone he met.
He was predeceased by his parents, Charles D. and Helen P. Halsey, his wife, Martha B. Halsey, his sister, Euphemia V.R. Hillier, and his brother, Charles D. Halsey Jr. Surviving are his children, Cynthia H. Mernick of Oceanport, Ann Davis and her husband Stuart Burlingham of Savannah, Georgia, and David A. and his wife Katie D. Halsey of Edgartown, Massachusetts. He also leaves behind seven grandchildren, eight great-grandchildren, and numerous nieces, nephews and cousins, as well as their children and grandchildren.
A Celebration of Life will be held in his honor locally in the spring. In lieu of flowers, please consider making a donation in his memory to CPC Integrated Health, 10 Industrial Way East, Suite 108, Eatontown, NJ 07724.
The article originally appeared in the March 19 – 25, 2026 print edition of The Two River Times.
