March 12, 1930 - August 31, 2026
Sidney L. Willis, who lived for 40 years in Princeton, and more recently during the past 22 years in Skillman, died on August 31 after a very brief illness at the Princeton Medical Center. He was at 96.
During his lifetime, he served as the director of New Jersey State and Regional Planning, and as a special master supporting the court in its landmark decision of what became known as the Mount Laurel II decision, which obligated all of New Jersey’s municipalities to provide for the production of low- and moderate-income housing in their zoning codes.
Sid was born in 1930 in New York City, where he lived on the Upper West Side and later in the Bronx. He attended the NYC public school system, graduating from DeWitt Clinton High School in 1947. He graduated from Geneva College in Beaver Falls, PA in 1951, after which time he served in the U.S. Army where he was stationed at the Panama Canal during the Korean War.
After his honorable discharge from the Army in 1953, Sid earned a master’s degree in City Planning from the University of Chicago in 1955 where he studied under Rexford Guy Tugwell, who had helped shape policy recommendations leading up to FDR’s New Deal and served as the chairman of the New York City Planning Commission under Mayor Fiorello La Guardia. While in Chicago, Sid met his future wife Edna at the First Unitarian Church of Chicago where they were later married in June of 1957.
Sid and Edna moved to Trenton, NJ, where he was hired by Bud Chavooshian to join the New Jersey Department of Conservation and Economic Development where between 1957 and 1961, he held several positions and participated in all aspects of development and the administration of the New Jersey state planning program.
Between 1961 and 1968 Sid served as Jersey City's first Director of Planning, where he established the city’s first full-time planning program and then went on to serve as director of Jersey City’s Community Renewal Program.
After his time in Jersey City, Sid returned to Trenton where he served as the director of New Jersey State and Regional Planning, and later the assistant commissioner of the Department of Community Affairs.
Between 1977 and 1982, Sid served under Mayor Pat Kramer as the director of Community Development for the City of Paterson where, among other responsibilities, he advanced the redevelopment of the Paterson Great Falls Historic District and served as the President of the Paterson Restoration Corporation, a local non-profit group.
After his time in Paterson, Sid returned to Trenton again to serve as the assistant commissioner of the Department of Community Affairs until 1992 during which time, among other responsibilities, he represented the commissioner on several state and regional planning boards and authorities and coordinated the revision of the Hackensack Meadowlands District master plan.
In 1983 NJ Chief Justice Robert Wilentz appointed Sid as a special master supporting the court in its landmark decision of what became known as the Mount Laurel II decision, which obligated all of New Jersey’s municipalities to provide for the production of low- and moderate-income housing in their zoning codes by making the opportunity to provide the housing attractive to builders.
During his career Sid also served as a research associate at Princeton University’s Research Center for Urban and Environmental Planning, an Associate Professor at the Rutgers University Department of Urban Planning and Policy Development, and a member of the New Jersey Civil Rights Commission for Human Dignity, a 16-member civil rights agency comprised of leading business, religious, and civic officials.
Sid was an active member of both the First Unitarian Church of Trenton and the Unitarian-Universalist Congregation in Princeton, where he served both congregations as president and board member over the years and sang in the choir. He was an avid traveler and had a keen interest in history. Above all, he was a kind gentleman with a terrific sense of humor and will be deeply missed by all who loved him, especially his family.
He is survived by his two sons John (Patty) Willis; Robert (Suzanne); grandson Ryan (Sheri); granddaughter Sarah (James Benson), and great children Teddy and Sydney.
Sid was predeceased by his wife of nearly 57 years, Edna Guthrie Willis, who died in 2014 at the age of 84, his parents, Peter Benjamin and Ellen Beula Edwards, his brothers Joseph Benjamin (Benny), Lewis and Harry, and two sisters, Charlotte Ellen (Lottie) and Dorothy.
A private memorial service for family members will be held later this year. Memorial donations may be made to the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Princeton.
