Jeanne H. Wurmser died April 27, 2024, peacefully at Jersey Shore Hospital. She was born August 6, 1943, in Quincy, Ohio, the daughter of Anna Lucille and Donald Randolph Hahn. Jeanne graduated in 1961 from Riverside High School in Degraff, Ohio, where she was class valedictorian. She then went on to Miami University in Oxford Ohio, where she received a B.A., summa cum laude, in chemistry, graduating in the Top 10 in her class. Jeanne was a student leader, was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa and Sigma Xi and became president of the Alpha Chapter of Delta Zeta sorority.
After graduating, Jeanne pursued a different scientific field, becoming a leader in community mental healthcare. She earned a Ph.D. in clinical psychology from Columbia University and interned at Veterans Administration hospitals. As an intern, she worked with returning veterans from the Vietnam War and helped them recover from their wartime experiences and reintegrate into society. Jeanne then went on to a career at CPC Behavioral Healthcare, where she rose to become its long-time president and CEO while greatly expanding its mental health services.
Jeanne continued as a leader in the mental health community. She served on the board or as chair of mental health provider groups such as the New Jersey Association of Mental Health Agencies and Mental Health Corporations of America. After leaving CPC Behavioral Healthcare, Jeanne consulted on mental health policy with the state of New Jersey and served as a clinical assistant professor on the faculty of Robert Wood Johnson Medical School.
Jeanne was an avid photographer and creator of photo albums, especially of her grandchildren to whom she was especially devoted. She was adept at making scrapbooks of trips with her husband to France and Italy, to the Virgin Islands on a sailing adventure or to Florida to visit friends. She filled them with photos and memorabilia of their travels.
Jeanne was skilled in studying the genealogy of her family, which extended back to the 17th century in America and she traveled to Pennsylvania and Ohio on occasion for research. Jeanne also enjoyed being a board member and treasurer of the Monmouth Museum. She was an enthusiastic reader of American history and mystery novels. She particularly enjoyed Janet Evanovich’s “Stephanie Plum” mysteries with all their local New Jersey color. In later years she and her husband reread “Gone with the Wind” together, her favorite novel.
Surviving are her husband of 25 years, James L. Alberi; her son Kurt Gareth Wurmser and his fiance Kathleen Garrihy of Brick; her stepchildren, Thomas Alberi and his wife Arielle Kane and Christine Alberi and her husband John Tohanczyn; her brother Thomas Hahn and his wife Lynne; her nieces, Megan Hahn and Kristin Whitten; her grandchildren, Isabelle and Alexander Wurmser; and her stepgrandchildren, Rose, Madeline, Benjamin, Jacob and Tessa.
Visitation was May 3 at Holmdel Funeral Home, Holmdel with a funeral May 4. Interment followed at Marlboro Memorial Cemetery, Morganville.
In lieu of customary remembrances, Jeanne’s family asks with gratitude that donations in her honor be directed to the Alzheimer Foundation at alzfdn.org.
The family would like to extend its gratitude to all the caring teams at Artis Senior Living of Eatontown for their love, generosity and support during the last years of Jeanne’s life.
The article originally appeared in the May 16 – 22, 2024 print edition of The Two River Times.
