Kent Hill Sabin passed away peacefully Feb. 28, 2021, at age 84. Born April 3, 1936, to Edward A. Sabin and Barbara E. Hill Sabin in Providence, Rhode Island, he grew up in Mansfield, Massachusetts. Kent graduated from Brown University in 1957 and earned his master’s degree in electrical engineering at New York University in 1959. He began his career at AT&T with Bell Laboratories in Whippany. Kent was the first employee to be awarded the Distinguished Technical Staff Award designed to recognize sustained achievement at Bell Laboratories.
Kent married Susie Petersen in 1962. They became a close family of three with the addition of their daughter Linda. They had many wonderful adventures together that started with camping and sailing, and expanded to world travel. They were able to experience Germany, UK, France, Hong Kong, Japan, China, India and South Africa.
After moving to Fair Haven in 1977, Kent started running. Running became such a passion that he ran 50 marathons within a 10-year stretch. His longest race was 100k (62 miles) and his personal best marathon was 2:50. Favorite marathons included New York City, Boston, Marine Corps and Montreal. He was the fastest member of the winning AT&T team that competed in the Corporate Challenge in Houston. As a member of the Jersey Shore Running Club, Kent served not only as a group runner and racer, but also as a volunteer and was viewed as a modest legend. Kent was proud to be a founding member of the Rumson chapter of the Hash House Harriers, an international running group.
Kent retired in 1989 after 33 ½ years and it came as no surprise to anyone that retirement didn’t slow Kent down. He embarked on a 9,000-mile solo bike trip across North America. After more than five months biking, he arrived back home to New Jersey on his and Susie’s 28th wedding anniversary.
Kent and Susie moved to Jacksonville, Florida in 2008 to be closer to their daughter and grandsons. They regularly attended numerous events at the Bolles School, including soccer games and theater productions.
Kent is survived by his devoted wife of 58 years, Susie Sabin, their loving daughter, Linda Mahoney, and two wonderful caring grandsons, Daniel and Ryan. His surviving siblings are Peter Sabin of Warner, New Hampshire, and Judy Jackson of Houston, Texas. He was preceded in death by his brother Christopher (Kit) Sabin and sister Sandra (Sandy) Northfield.
He is survived by many other Sabin family members including nieces and nephews Christy, Wendy, Bill Jr., Birch, Kate and Anika. Making friends everywhere he went, he will be missed by his loyal personal physical therapist and friend Jaime Smyth, and dedicated nurse Sharon Peck at his final residence of four years, The Windsor of San Pablo.
A celebration of life will be held for family and friends at a future date.
In lieu of flowers, remembrances can be made to the Mayo Clinic of Jacksonville, Florida, at mayoclinic.org, or Science News at sciencenews.org.
The article originally appeared in the March 18 – 24, 2021 print edition of The Two River Times.
