William H. Forsyth, Joseph G. Laga.
William H. Forsyth
Curator of medieval art
HIGHTSTOWN William H. Forsyth died May 14. He was 96.
Mr. Forsyth was a Princeton resident from 1970 to 1991 before moving to Meadow Lakes in Hightstown.
Mr. Forsyth was curator emeritus of medieval art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Cloisters, where he worked his entire career. He was the last surviving member of the staff of The Cloisters who was involved in its construction and arrangement of the collection.
A 1930 Princeton University graduate, he received a master’s degree in fine arts from Princeton and began work in the medieval art department of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1933.
His first assignment was to help curator James Rorimer during the construction of The Cloisters, the uptown branch of The Metropolitan Museum of Art devoted to medieval Europe that opened in 1938. In the course of his career, he specialized in Burgundian sculpture of the 15th and 16th centuries, located two fragments of the "missing" Unicorn Tapestries which are now on display in the Cloisters, wrote articles and monographs on objects of art in the museum’s collections and completed work on the definitive study of "The Entombment of Christ French Sculptures of the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries," published in 1970.
After retirement, he moved with his wife to Mercer Street in Princeton, where they lived until moving to Meadow Lakes in 1991. While in Princeton, he continued to publish articles and completed his second study of monumental Burgundian sculpture, "The Pieta in French Late Gothic Sculpture," published by The Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1995.
He is survived by his children, Agnes Kuenkler, Caroline Elischer, William H. Forsyth Jr., Marian Weekly and Therese Hare; 10 grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.
A memorial service was held Wednesday at Trinity Church, Princeton.
Memorial contributions may be made to Trinity Church, 33 Mercer St., Princeton, NJ 08540.
Joseph G. Laga
Former Montgomery resident
BARTO, Pa. Joseph G. Laga Jr. died Monday at Lehigh Valley Hospital, Allentown, Pa. He was 68.
Born in Jersey City, he grew up in North Bergen and lived in Berkeley Heights and Montgomery before moving to Barto 20 years ago.
He was a mechanic and shop manager for McCarthy Masonry and Concrete in Pennsylvania.
He was a NASCAR driver from 1953 to 1966 and a former Winston Cup champion driving at Wall Stadium, Old Bridge, Morristown and Flemington.
He was a member of the Springtown Rod & Gun Club and enjoyed hunting and fishing.
Brother of the late Thomas Laga, he is survived by sons and daughter-in-law Matt Laga of Neshanic and James and Jean Laga, with whom he lived in Barto; daughters and son-in-law Karen Gillespie of North Brunswick and Debbie and Danny Gray of Montgomery; sister Barbara Napierski of Secaucus; and grandchildren J.R., Joey, Ali, Colt and Chris.
The funeral will be 8:45 a.m. Saturday at Hillsborough Funeral Home, 796 Route 206, Hillsborough.
A Mass will be celebrated 9:30 a.m. at Mary Mother of God Church, Hillsborough.
Visiting hours will be 2 to 4 p.m. and 7 to 9 p.m. today at the funeral home.
Memorial contributions may be made to the American Cancer Society, 600 First Ave., Raritan, NJ 08869.

