Louise Thompkins

Louise Tompkins of Medford, N.J. died peacefully there on October 29, 2025, at the age of 97. She was born in Jersey City, N.J. and grew up there and in Summit, N.J. She was a graduate of Kent Place School in Summit and of Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, N.Y.

In 1963, she earned a master’s degree in Library Science from the University of California at Berkeley. She worked as a general reference librarian in the University Library at Berkeley from 1963 to 1966, when she moved to Princeton to become the Librarian of the Pliny Fisk Library of Economics and Finance in the Princeton University Library. She held that position until retiring in 1993. During that time, she also served as the first head of Social Science Reference Center from 1982 to 1985, and as Assistant University Librarian for Reference and Collection Development from 1985 to 1991.

Louise was a lifelong, enthusiastic birder. She derived immense enjoyment from searching for and sighting unusual avian species. She traveled all over the world on birding trips, and her quick wit and great sense of humor made her a wonderful travel companion. She had a profound appreciation for wild, undeveloped areas and in particular adored the Jersey Shore. By nature a curious person, she loved learning new things throughout her long life, right into her nineties.

She is survived by her sister Mary Tompkins Starkweather, her six nieces and one nephew and their families: Anne S. Karfopoulos (Michael), Martha S. Altreuter (Sam), Sarah M. Starkweather, Julie S. Halloran (Todd), Mary S. Bushman (Tom), Louise Jones, and Barclay G. Jones III (Jean), as well as twenty two great nieces and nephews.

She was preceded in death by parents Harold D. and Katharine Tennant Tompkins and her sister Anne Tompkins Jones.

She was a member of the Nassau Presbyterian Church in Princeton and a longtime volunteer at New Jersey Audubon Society and the Rancocas Nature Center. In her memory, contributions may be made to the Rancocas Nature Center, 794 Rancocas Road, Westhampton, N.J. 08060.  rancocasnaturecenter.org/index.html

Services and interment are private.

Arrangements under the direction of the Bradley & Stow Funeral Home, 127 Medford-Mt. Holly Road, Medford, NJ 08055.

(www.BradleyStow.com)

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