Cathleen Rolston Litvack passed away on February 9, 2025. Cate was born in Austin, Texas, on July 18, 1943, to Air Force navigator William Rolston and Edith Sperry. She attended 11 different schools and lived in three countries before she headed to Wellesley College, where she majored in political science. There she met James Litvack, whom she married two days after graduating in 1964. They lived in Cambridge while Jim attended MIT for graduate school in economics and then came to Princeton in 1966 when Jim joined the faculty.
Cate had an incredibly accomplished and varied career in politics and service. In local government, she served on the Princeton Planning, Recreation, and Library boards; two terms on Princeton Township Committee; and two years as Mayor of Princeton Township. She was also on the boards of the Princeton Area Community Foundation, American Red Cross, and First Fidelity Bank of Princeton. She was active in greater New Jersey politics as well, serving as the first female Executive Director of the New Jersey Democratic State Committee, and worked on many political campaigns including Rush Holt’s Congressional campaign, Barbara Sigmund’s US Senate campaign, and Bill Bradley’s and General Wesley Clark’s Presidential campaigns.
As Mayor, two of her proudest accomplishments were the negotiation with the Institute for Advanced Studies and Princeton Township to designate the Institute Woods as a protected space, and establishing the Princeton-Pettoranello Sister City Foundation. The Italian government recognized her efforts as well, naming her Cavaliere (Knight of the Italian Republic). She studied Italian whenever she could, and when she gave her grandkids and their friends frequent rides around town, they also had the chance to learn Italian by way of the tapes that played in her car.
Cate was a huge supporter of land conservation and preservation, serving on the Board and as chair of the D&R Greenway for many years, helping to lay the foundation for the well-established organization it is today.
She combined her love of land preservation and history while serving as the first Executive Director of the Crossroad for the American Revolution for which she secured designation from the federal government for its National Heritage status. Most recently she served on the boards of the Old Barracks Museum, the Advocates for New Jersey History, and Trenton Arts Fund. Cate had an amazing memory for dates and trivia. Her family joked she was a walking encyclopedia, which she proved when she went on Jeopardy! as a contestant — and won!
Her drive for launching new initiatives and taking on anything that seemed fun and interesting also included working as VP at J&M Advertising, sales representative at Kea Wines, and even riding the dot-com boom as Vice President of Marketing at govWorks.com.
Cate was an avid gardener, and her gorgeous garden has hosted many events over the more than 50 years she and Jim have lived on Laurel Road. She loved to travel and explore architecture, art and theater. She enjoyed sharing this passion with her daughter on their many adventures together, and later with her grandchildren as well.
She and Jim played a lot of golf together in their over 60 years as members of Springdale Golf Club. During that time she served on the Board of Governors and chair of the Golf Committee; Cate could out-drive many men, and won the women’s club championship, along with many other tournaments.
Cate’s amazing determination, strength, wit, and graciousness was with her through to the end. In spite of her battle with ovarian cancer, she died peacefully at home with her family around her. She leaves behind her husband of 61 years, James Litvack; daughter Dana Molina and her husband Alberto Molina; grandchildren Catalina Molina and Milo Molina; sister Virginia Parrott Scott (Tim Scott); brother Benjamin Rolston (Lee Ann Ellison); niece and nephew Skye Parrott (Jeremy Malman), and Hank Parrott (Sara Dowling); and great-nieces and nephews Stig Malman, Oona Malman, Nova Malman, Nolan Parrott, and Blake Parrott.
There will be a celebration of life for Cate in April at Springdale. In lieu of flowers, please consider donating to the D&R Greenway, The Old Barracks Museum, or Trenton Arts Fund.
