Obituaries
David Thaler

Mr. Thaler, 63, of Naples, Fla., died Nov. 15. Born in Belleville, Thaler grew up there, then resided in Marlboro and Freehold Township. He was a former publisher of Greater Media Newspapers, which publishes the Sentinel, and a former vice president of the printing and publishing division of Greater Media Inc., the parent company of Greater Media Newspapers. Thaler founded the Bayshore Independent in 1970 and published it for 17 years until it was purchased by Greater Media Newspapers in 1987. The weekly newspaper focused on community news in the Bayshore area of Monmouth County — Keyport, Aberdeen, Hazlet, Keansburg and parts of Middletown. Thaler continued to work for Greater Media for five years. He became general manager of the Home News Tribune, East Brunswick, in 1996. At the Home News Tribune, he was responsible for advertising, circulation and news. He retired to Florida in 1999. Thaler was a graduate of the University of Missouri School of Journalism. He was an avid sports fan who loved to play and teach tennis. He especially loved watching the New York Giants play football. He competed in area tennis tournaments and gave private tennis lessons at his home in Freehold Township. He enjoyed the time he spent coaching the Freehold Borough High School boys tennis team for several years in the early 1990s. Surviving are his wife, Sondra; two sons, Philip and Ian; a daughter, Fern; two sisters, Tina and Debbe; his mother, Ida; and his grandchildren, Renee and Ross. Services were held Nov. 18 at the Freeman Funeral Home, Manalapan. Interment was at Beth Israel Cemetery, Woodbridge.