Judith Isabel Bernhaut

Judith was born in Newark, New Jersey, on May 6, 1939, to Hyman and Ruth Bassett. She graduated from Weequahic High School in 1954 and attended Rutgers–Newark. She raised her three children in Emerson before settling in Livingston in 1973. Judith was an award-winning concert pianist and photographer. She cofounded a successful arts appraisal business, Photologue Limited, and was very proud to have Mr. and Mrs. William Randolph Hearst Jr. as a repeat client.

Judith loved nothing more than spending time with family and close friends. She especially enjoyed sharing holidays with all her children and grandchildren and even traveling to other countries to celebrate milestones together. Among her varied favorite pastimes throughout different stages in her life were playing tennis, mah-jongg, bridge, and canasta; going to museums, Broadway shows, and the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra; reading suspense novels; collecting fine art; doing the New York Times crossword puzzle (in ink); and watching University of Michigan football games and even traveling to Pasadena with her husband to see the Wolverines play in the Rose Bowl in the 1980s). She was also a highly regarded early member of the Livingston Camera Club, earning numerous awards for her work. Her dedication to the craft extended to building a darkroom in the basement of her home. She passed on her love of photography to some of her children and grandchildren. She showed her appreciation for the arts by becoming a benefactor of the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark. As a way of showing gratitude, she felt great joy from her philanthropy to the many causes dear to her heart.

She was a past member of Temple B’nai Jeshurun in Short Hills.

Judith is survived by her three devoted children, Steven (Vijay), David (Gayle), and Nancy (Bruce), and her beloved grandchildren, Ross, Margo, Dana, Stacie, and Joshua. She is predeceased by her husband, Melvin, who passed away in 2005.

A graveside service will be held August 20, 2025, at 1:30 p.m. at Mount Lebanon Cemetery, 189 Gill Lane, Iselin, NJ 08830.

In celebration of Judith’s lifelong passion for music and the arts, the family kindly requests that donations be made in her memory to either the New Jersey Performing Arts Center or the New Jersey Symphony.