Elise Hope James

Elise James (June 12, 1968 – Jan. 3, 2021), of River Edge, N.J., died peacefully at her mother’s home in Washington Township, N.J., after battling recurrent ovarian cancer. She was 52.

Elise was the loving mother of Annelise James of Ridgewood, N.J., daughter of Jacqueline Santaniello and the late Anthony Santaniello, formerly of Woodcliff Lake, N.J., sister of Gloria McPherson of Provincetown, Mass., and Joelle Resnick of Rye, N.Y.

Elise was taken too soon and will be missed by us all.

She will be remembered for her intellect, creativity, sensitivity, dreams and love of her cats.

A graduate of Pascack Hills High School in Montvale, N.J., Elise’s intellect came to the fore as she earned a master’s degree in journalism at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. Soon afterwards, she became a founding employee of News 12 New Jersey in the mid-1990s, worked her way into the corporate ranks of parent company Cablevision, and later worked for several years as a freelance journalist, contributing to various magazines and newspapers, including The Star-Ledger and The Record. She also wrote a blog for a time about her domestic life in River Edge.

In later years, she worked as a paralegal at Beattie Padovano, LLC, in Montvale, N.J., and other law firms. Besides her full-time jobs, Elise created and ran several small businesses over the years.

Elise’s creativity was on display as she earned a degree in fashion design at the Parsons School of Design in New York City, and in the aspects of some of her small businesses – including one where she would hand stitch hundreds of beaded, fashionable cat collars and sell them over the internet and to local pet shops, and another where she dealt in art, photographs and antiquarian books, buying items at estate sales and other locations, evaluating them and selling them on the internet.

Her sensitivity came out in her love for her daughter, Annelise, and the rest of her family, which also included her brother-in-law, Jonathan Resnick of Rye, N.Y., her nephews, Jacob and Eli Resnick and Peter McPherson, her niece, Anna Lally, her aunt and uncle, Vic and Pam Halitsky, her cousins, Craig Halitsky and Alicia Lynch, and their families, and her Aunt Sarah Ulak and family in Ewing, N.J. She also is fondly remembered by her ex-husband, Michael James of Ridgewood, N.J., to whom she was married for almost 15 years. And, of course, she always loved her cats, including Maisy and Daisy, who survive, as well as prior pets including Lindy, Senor Wences, Orange Manny, Phoebe and Buttercup.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in her name to Valley Hospice, 15 Essex Road, Paramus, N.J.

Given the coronavirus pandemic, funeral services will be limited to Elise’s immediate family. They hope to remember Elise at a future public memorial service when conditions permit.