Joseph M. Boyd, Taihi Hong, Norma F. Roth
Joseph M. Boyd
Founded phone directory
Joseph Mortimer Boyd of Princeton died Thursday. He was 92.
Born in Chicago, he was a Princeton resident since 1947.
Mr. Boyd was founder and longtime proprietor of the Princeton Community Directory and Consumer Bureau.
He attended Harvard University from 1931 to 1934, leaving before graduation to start a group of local newspapers in the Boston area.
After working for defense contractor Rhom & Haas during World War II, he started The Boyd System, said to be the world’s first modern credit card, in Bristol, Pa., in 1947.
Although the under-financed venture eventually failed, he convinced a number of banks to take up the idea and published directories of participating merchants and services. These regional cards eventually combined with others to become MasterCard.
He was devoted to the cause of independent businesses battling the growth of chain stores.
In 1960, he started the Princeton Community Directory in competition with the Bell System and Yellow Pages, winning a legal battle for access to up-to-date phone number listings.
The local phone directories led to the Consumer Bureau, an association of local shops and services operating under a charter of good practice, with disputes arbitrated by a committee of customers and retailers. He sold the directories in 1982. The Consumer Bureau still operates.
He moved with his family to Princeton in 1947, following the example of his mother, Mary Boxall Boyd, a pianist and teacher who was a longtime Princeton resident.
He was always interested in the economics of localities caught in the web of big business and big capital. At the time of his death, he was working on a book on the roots of the world’s current economic problems.
Married to Elizabeth Walker in 1937, they divorced in 1958. He is survived by sons Joseph W. and John Warwick; two grandsons and a great-grandson.
Taihi Hong
Former Montgomery resident
SOMERSET Taihi Hong died Friday at University Medical Center at Princeton. She was 65.
Born and raised in Korea, she moved to the United States in 1971. She resided in Montgomery Township for 20 years before moving to Somerset two years ago.
She was a sculpture and textile design artist.
She is survived by her husband, Saman Hong; son Jason Hong of New York City; three sisters and one brother.
The funeral was Monday.
Arrangements were by Costello-Runyon Funeral Home, Metuchen.
Norma F. Roth
Daughter lives in West Windsor
MONROE TOWNSHIP Norma Frances Roth, 85, died Friday in Spokane, Wash.
Born in New York City, Mrs. Roth was a former resident of New Hyde Park, N.Y.
A graduate of Hunter College, she was employed by Rosemont Publishing Co.
Wife of the late Keith Roth, she is survived by daughters and sons-in-law Joanne and Dr. Alan Feldman of West Windsor and Meryl and Dr. Robert Gersh of Spokane, Wash; sister Ruth Samuels of East Meadow, N.Y; and grandchildren Andy, Jill, Julie and Lauren.
The funeral will be 10 a.m. Wednesday at Congregation Beth Chaim, 329 Village Road, West Windsor.
Burial will follow at Mount Ararat Cemetery, Farmingdale, N.Y.
The period of mourning will be observed at the Feldman residence.
Memorial contributions may be made to the American Cancer Society.
Arrangements are by Orland’s Ewing Memorial Chapel, Ewing Township.

