Henry Patterson Jr., 80, Was Veteran, Executive

Henry Stuart Patterson Jr., 80, died Sunday, Dec. 1, at The Medical Center at Princeton in Princeton, N.J. Mr. Patterson and his wife, the late Suzanne Virden Patterson, for many years maintained a summer residence at Seven Gates Farm in West Tisbury.

Born in New York city, he was an economics major, graduating from Princeton University in June of 1943 (class of 1944).

Upon his graduation from college, Mr. Patterson saw active service in the United States Army field artillery during World War II. He was discharged in 1946 as a first lieutenant.

In 1946, he joined Dunn and Bradstreet, and was employed there until 1950, when he joined Elizabethtown Water Company. He served as its president from May 1973 until his retirement in September of 1985. He then became president of E'town Corp., the newly-formed holding company of Elizabethtown Water Co.

Mr. Patterson recently served as a director of Elizabethtown Water Co. and a director of its subsidiary, Mount Holly Water Co. In addition, he was chairman of the executive committee of UJB Financial and a director of three of its subsidiaries, United Jersey Bank, United Jersey Bank Central NA and Richard J. Blackman and Co.

He was elected mayor of Princeton Borough and served four terms from 1962 through 1969. He served as a commissioner for the New Jersey State Commission of Investigation from 1979 to 1990. He was appointed by Gov. Brendan T. Byrne in 1979 and reappointed by Gov. Thomas H. Kean in 1983. He was also appointed chairman of the commission in 1985. He maintained this position until his tenure ended in 1990.

He was a director and past president of the National Association of Water Companies, past president of the New Jersey Utilities Association and an honorary member of the American Water Works Association. He had also served as a member of the Rutgers University Board of Overseers. He was a former president of the Middlesex-Somerset-Mercer Regional Study Council and a past member of its board of directors.

The husband of the late Suzanne Virden Patterson, he is survived by to sons and a daughter in law, Henry S. Patterson 3rd of Rocky Hill and Michael V. and Margaret S. Patterson of Ridgewood; two daughters and a son in law, Abby Ann Patterson of Newton and Lucy P. and Peter B. Cox of Monroe, Conn.; a brother, Edward, of New York city, and seven grandchildren, Nicholas, Cortlandt and Katharine Cammann, Madeline and Kelsey Cox and Michael and Nina Patterson.

A memorial mass will be held at 9:30 a.m. on Friday, Dec. 6, at St. Paul's Roman Catholic Church in Princeton, N.J. Contributions may be made to Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, P.O. Box 1776, Williamsburg, VA 23187-1776. Arrangements are under the direction of the Mather-Hodge Funeral Home in Princeton, N.J.