Eileen Ball

Our beloved sister, aunt, and godmother, Eileen Ball, age 78, passed away suddenly on

Saturday, April 15, 2023, at her home in Lakewood, N.J.

She had spent the previous weekend celebrating Easter and the coming of Spring, a time that

was special for her, with family and close friends. She is deeply missed by all.

Eileen is predeceased by her former husbands, Bill Leyrer, of New York City, and Douglas C.

Ball, of Great Kills, Staten Island.

Eileen is survived by: her sister, Carol (George) Merlo, and her brother, Michael (MaryAnn)

Simonelli; her nieces and nephews, Brian Merlo, Scott Merlo, Anthony (Leanne) Merlo, Anthony

J. Merlo, Catharine Merlo, Michael (Marlaina) Simonelli, Daniel (Michele Nudelman) Simonelli,

Melissa (Wade) Christensen, Isabella Rose Simonelli, and Russell Wade Christensen.

Eileen was born in NYC, to Ralph and Olga Simonelli, and lived on the Lower East Side,

Alphabet City, during the 1940s through the 1960s, with her parents, her siblings, and

her grandparents, Michael and Eva. After graduating Central Commercial H.S. in NYC. Eileen

landed the perfect job for “…someone like me who loves to read,” working with Ralph Daigh,

the editor-in-chief of Fawcett Publications, and Leona Nevler, the managing editor of Gold

Medal, Fawcett Crest, and Premier Books.

It is with Fawcett Crest that Eileen made her greatest contribution, where as the Director of

Global Contracts, Licensing, and Copyright, she worked closely with Charles M. Schulz to

transition and to protect his intellectual properties, enabling Fawcett to publish curated,

abridged, and internationally adapted editions of the Peanuts comic strip titles that had

originally been published by a competitor.

After retiring, Eileen lived in The Heather, Brooksville, Florida, where she enjoyed golfing with

her local leagues, growing grapefruits out back near the dock, and reading by her indoor pool.

She especially loved visits from family, and would join them for excursions to Orlando, the Outer

Banks, and cruises abroad. She’d often volunteer for local PGA tournaments, providing her the

opportunity to meet many of the top players on tour, along with their caddies. She enjoyed

showing off autographs and photos she collected from those occasions.

Eileen moved back North to Lakewood, N.J., in December of 2017, with family members flying

South to assist her with packing, loading, and driving the truck, arriving in N.J. just-in-time to

miss a near-record snowfall. It made for fun stories to embellish upon at family gatherings.

We enjoyed the last years Eileen spent with us, seeing her more, having her nearby for visits

and holidays, enjoying her laugh, her stories, her knowledge of family lore, her friendship, her

warmth and camaraderie, her newly found love for mah-jongg, simply being much more a part

of each other's lives. She recently got herself a new phone, and we’d kid her about it, welcoming

her to the 21st century. She especially enjoyed the daily stream of photographs family would

send, of new babies and old friends.

From her journal, dated May 21, 2014, Eileen wrote: Eleanor Roosevelt once said that you gain

strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in

the face. You are able to say to yourself, “I lived through this horror. I can take the next thing

that comes along. You must do the things you think you cannot do.”

Visitation will take place at the Pettit-Davis Funeral Home, at 371 West Milton Avenue in

Rahway, N.J., on Tuesday, April 25, 2023, from 4 to 8 PM. Relatives and friends are invited to

return on Wednesday, April 26, 2023  to attend her funeral service at 11 AM.