Henry Riter Agens was known professionally as “Hy” Agens, 82 of Montclair, New Jersey passed away on March 11, 2023

early Saturday morning after fighting cancer, COPD and heart disease.

He was born on July 4, 1940 to David Taylor Agens and Margaret Agusta Riter at Mountainside hospital in Montclair,

New Jersey. Hy attended Montclair Academy from second grade through graduation in 1958. He went on to study at

Colgate University and Fairleigh Dickenson University.

While he was at Colgate, he quickly got involved at the University radio station. Hy worked at other local stations WNNJ

Newton, NJ, WSUS Franklin NJ and at WTLB and WRUN Rome-Utica, NY. He then moved to Burnt Hills, NY and worked at

WGY, a General Electric 50,000-watt station in Schenectady, NY. He was the number one drive time personality from

1969-1973.

While at WGY, he did many voice over commercials for local merchants and businesses. He got noticed by the executives

at Macys in NYC and was told to get an agent. He obtained an Agent, Lester Lewis of Lester Lewis & Associates and

Manager, Beth Allen from Take One. The first auditions he went on, he landed a national on camera commercial (JC

Penny shoes) that aired during the World Series.

He then went on to make hundreds of Local and National commercials. He was the Jiff Peanut Butter spokesperson for

10 years coining the phrase, “Choosy mothers Choose Jiff”. Some other on-camera work included, Clorox, Dynamo,

Daytril, KFC, Topol, Lavoris and many more.

Hy also made many voice overs such as the PanAm, Bloomberg Network, Saratoga Performing Arts Center and for ABC a

retrospective of Barbara Streisand. He made documentaries, starred in soaps and films. He was even on Three on a

Match game show with Bill Cullen winning money and magnificent prizes. He had the opportunity to work with Kathy

Lee Gifford for a show that sold nationally called “Weekday”. He was an amazing talent who had that voice!!!

Hy is survived by his wife Melee Verro Agens. They were married for 60 years and raised their three boys, Riter, Glenn

and Dana in Burnt Hills, NY. Their first son, Henry Riter Agens II (predeceased 1998) and his wife Betty of Pine, CO, had

two children, Henry Riter Agens III (Trey) of Dallas, TX and Alta Melee Agens of Littleton, CO. Their second, Glenn Taylor

Agens of Vernon, NJ, had two children, Van Taylor Agens of New York, NY and James Riter Agens of Columbus, SC. Their

youngest son, Dana Verro Agens of Los Angeles, CA.

Hy and Melee loved and cherished their grandchildren mentioned above. While growing up, the grandchildren spent

several summers traveling to many historical places, swimming in their pool, going to the shore, attending many

Broadway shows and of course going to Yankee games. He was incredibly creative telling made up children’s stories that

entertained the kids for hours on end. They were great times.

His passions were music, baseball, politics, trivia, history and of course his golden retriever Rory. He loved writing for his

class of 58’ at MKA Alumni magazine. He told of classmate’s life stories and loved helping organize the reunions. He

especially loved his English teacher, Frank Brogan, who was honored by MKA.

He was very interested in his ancestry and the history of Montclair, NJ because he is a descendant of William Ball, Jasper

Crane and several others who came to the area in 1616. He always talked about his grandfather, Henry Gilbert Riter

(President of the Thomas Edison Company) who lived at 36 Stonebridge Road Montclair, NJ.

Hy will be missed greatly. If you wish to contribute, please donate to Sloan Kettering Cancer Center of New York. The

family will hold a celebration of life at a later date. Hy will be laid to rest at the historical Mt Pleasant Cemetery in

Newark, NJ around his beloved family.