Local politician Diane Weeks ’75 passes away at 57

As a passionate alumna, Weeks was very active in her class and proud of her affiliation with the University.

“Diane was involved in multiple levels in her community. People knew her,” said Mercedes Naficy-D’Angelo ’84, who knew Weeks for four years and is president of the Princeton Club of Northwestern New Jersey.

Weeks was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, just a few months ago.

“We were all shocked when she got sick three months ago,” said Morris County Sheriff Edward Rochford, who has known Weeks for 10 years. “This woman — I don’t think she did anything wrong in her whole life.”

Weeks was well known in her heavily Republican community for running twice as a Democrat for the Mendham Township Committee and most recently for Morris County clerk, Rochford said.

Though Morris County has never had a Democratic clerk or sheriff, Weeks repeatedly attempted to break the trend, winning 40 percent of the vote in her last campaign.

“If you knew her at all, she was extremely opinionated and Democratic,” said Phyllis Florek, a Republican who ran against Weeks for the township committee and described her as a longtime acquaintance and recent friend. “When she ran campaigns, she was of course intelligent and articulate, but she also stayed on issues. She never got into anything dirty.”

Jack Schrier, a Republican who has served on the township committee since 1992, described Weeks as a “champion” and “focal point” for the Democrats in her community.

Weeks also served as an assistant U.S. attorney in the district of New Jersey and later entered private practice.

Weeks’ funeral service was held Sept. 11 and was attended by many University alumni.

“Princeton was her family,” said Naficy-D’Angelo, who delivered a eulogy at the service. “While people have their children and their families to turn inward on and to find enjoyment in, for her, her family was Princeton.” Weeks did not have any immediate relatives in the area.

“Within five minutes of meeting Diane, her second or third sentence was, ‘I graduated from Princeton,’ ” Naficy-D’Angelo said. “It was so predictable that she would do that at any event that it became actually quite a hallmark of Diane.”

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Weeks served as co-president of her class from 2000 to 2005, served on the board of the Class of 1969 Community Service Fund, was a founding member of the Princeton Prize in Race Relations of Northwest New Jersey, and established the Class of 1975 Summer Internship Program. Her class decided to name the internship program in her honor before she passed away.

When Weeks was told about the renaming of the program, she did the hand motions to Old Nassau, Naficy-D’Angelo said.

“Even on her deathbed, she was doing the Princeton thing,” she added. “I felt that in many ways, the students who received those internships were her children. Those students who benefited ... gave her immense pride.”

Weeks studied history at the University, graduating with honors. She was also a member of the Aquinas Institute and the women’s basketball team.

She is survived by her brother, Kenneth Weeks; her sister-in-law Kathleen; her nieces and nephews Kelly ’12, Paul, Scott and Sharon ’08; and her cousins, Kathryn Folk, Caroline Davidson, Jim Sweeny and Madeline Auriemma.

“We miss her,” Schrier said. “We truly miss her.”