Carlotta Williams Greer

Our beloved wife, mother, sister, aunt, and friend Carlotta W. Greer passed on her birthday October 9, 2026, in New York City, at 76 years of age.

Carlotta, a resident of Pennington, NJ, was born October 9,1950, Carlotta Elizabeth Williams, in Berkeley, California, daughter of Father Lunis H. Williams MD, and Mother Zelma LeCraft Williams. She was raised in San Francisco, California. Her father was one of the first Black physicians to integrate San Francisco hospitals.

Carlotta attended Catholic elementary schools and graduated from Mercy High School in San Francisco. She attended Lone Mountain College in the city, studying French, before enrolling in Sorbonne University, Paris, France to pursue her studies in French language and culture, earning Advanced Certification in this field. Living in France for two years, Carlotta not only mastered the French language, but also made life-long friends, including a special close relationship with Robert Dumas, president of Hermes at the time, and his family, including Jean- Louis Dumas, who succeeded his father as president.

Carlotta returned to San Francisco in 1972, working in retail sales and as a personal shopper at I. Magnin. From that position she joined the advertising firm Foote, Cone & Belding (FBC), a global advertising firm, as an account specialist. She remained close to her colleague there, her lifelong friend Charlotte Raab.

In 1973, she met through her sister Stephanie and family relationships, Darryl G. Greer, a PhD candidate at Stanford University. With loving support from Carlotta's family, Darryl and Carlotta grew a close friendship, fell in love, and were married in San Francisco April 5, 1975. The couple's enduring marriage produced two sons: Geoffrey Williams Greer (1981) born in New York City, NY, and Adam Gentry Greer (1988), born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Following their marriage, Carlotta and Darryl moved to Columbus, Ohio. Carlotta immediately found employment at Lazarus, a large Midwestern retailer, and a major part of Federated Department Stores. With a strong retail background, she became a department manager, and later assistant buyer. Among many friends and colleagues in Columbus, one of Carlotta's favorites was Howard Gross, who advised on Carlotta's retail career, and who moved on to become president of Limited Stores, and later Victoria's Secret.

In 1979, following Darryl's work at the Ohio Legislative Service Commission, and as executive assistant to the Chancellor, Ohio Board of Regents, Carlotta and Darryl moved to New York City where Darryl served as policy planning officer, Office of the President, The College Entrance Examination Board. Again, given Carlotta's strong retail management background, she quickly landed a position as a market consultant for Associated Merchandizing Corporation (AMC), a nonprofit national, retail market research firm, principally serving Federated Stores, including Lazarus, Bloomingdales, and Marshall Fields, among others. Carlotta excelled at the job, specializing in women's better suits and dresses, and won many friends and professional colleagues. She was known in the garment industry on 7th Avenue as "Ms. Carlotta," and was respected by manufacturers and salespersons alike for her cogent market reports and poise.

In 1981, following Geoffrey's birth, Carlotta moved from NYC to Wheatland, MD, as Darryl took on national government relations responsibilities for the College Board, in Washington, DC. Carlotta decided to postpone her successful retail career, to raise her first son, and to manage the household. She accomplished both jobs, masterfully. Additionally, Carlotta was reunited with Muriel Poston Hughes, a childhood friend, and Jackie Castleberry King, spouse of Darryl's childhood friend Emery King, both of whom lived in Maryland and who were raising young families.

Carlotta again supported Darryl in moving to New Jersey in 1986, where he accepted the position as first CEO, NJ Association of State Colleges and Universities.

Carlotta gave birth to Adam in 1988 and continued to manage the household and nurture her two sons. She enjoyed decorating their homes in Bordentown, NJ, and later, when the family moved to Pennington in 1991. The kitchen was the heart of each of Carlotta's homes. As Carlotta raised her sons, and exposed them to art, sports, music, museums, dining and more, she ran the household, supported Darryl, and found time to enjoy her NYC pied-a-terre retreat. She spent many days there exposing the boys to the larger world, taking classes, having fun, and relaxing.

As her sons grew and progressed through school, Carlotta went back to work, principally part-time, working briefly at ETS and Thomas Edison University, before taking a position in Career Services at The College of New Jersey. There for 14 years, she assisted career counselors in scheduling and providing special advising services to students tying together academic and career interests and preparing for the workforce. She especially enjoyed helping the students and often had funny and a few sad stories about their journeys.

One of the great joys of Carlotta's life was acquiring Betsy Cohen as her daughter-in-law, meeting Betsy's wonderful family, and celebrating Betsy and Geoffrey's glorious wedding in 2021.

Everyone who knew Carlotta well knows that several of her lifelong interests grounded her intellectual breath, generosity and graciousness. These include intense interest in cuisine and her brilliant cooking skills; broad reading and travel; mastery and continuing education in French; skiing; swimming; horseback riding; extensive knowledge of classical music and film; and sewing- an interest acquired from her mother.

Not enough can be said about Carlotta's deep interest in food- its source, history, preparation, and display. She accumulated a small library that included food history, global cuisines, special preparation skills and equipment, cookware, plating and more.

She was a real student of the art of cooking, that came to life at her table. No one ever turned down an opportunity to dine with her, or to savor the wonderful dishes that she created. Her friend Richard Hale, Esq, called her kitchen "Chez Carlotta."

She started cooking as a young girl. She had an intellectual and practical approach to cooking that expanded with age. It became a defining part of her life. She not only bought books, watched videos, talked with other cooks and chefs, but also spent years perfecting recipes, and acquiring the equipment to do things well. She took formal lessons at the Institute of Culinary Education (ICE), in NYC and classes in Asia, including Vietnam, to learn techniques there. She mastered all forms of cooking any protein, made her own pasta and sauces, jams and preserves, baked breads of all kinds, made delicate cakes, pies, and wonderful fruit tarts, cookies, pizzas and more. American, French, Italian, Chinese, Vietnamese, Japanese. If Carlotta made it, it would all be good! She also acquired a green thumb to complement her cooking, maintaining a small herb garden for many years.

In her travels, she not only dined well, but made friends with global chefs, including Executive Chef Olivier Perret (Sofitel, Montreal), in the USA and Canada, S. Korea, Vietnam, China and elsewhere. In a word, she was a confident, accomplished and loving cook who excelled in the kitchen, and brought joy to family friends and visitors. She passed on her passion for cooking to her two sons.

Carlotta's mom was an accomplished seamstress. Her mother, Zelma, was an expert Japanese doll maker. Two of her Kabuki lion men dolls adorn the dining room. Carlotta never aspired to match her mom's skill level, but found a related interest in making tablecloths, closely related to her cooking interest. Over the years she hand- stitched hundreds of napkins for family use and as gifts. She took joy in finding the right fabrics, and diligently cut and stitched expertly each oversized napkin, which the family used daily (never paper). She also took on the more complex task of quilting. Over the years, she hand made several quits, something surely inspired by her mom and great grandmother, whose roughly 150-year-old quilt hangs framed over our fireplace. One exciting trip for Carlotta was to the International Quilt Museum on the campus of Nebraska University in Lincoln, NE.

Music was a central part of Carlotta's life. Her deep appreciation of classical and other forms of music evolved from being home-schooled for a time at a very young age, because of a congenital hip problem requiring her to stay at home. Her dad bought her a radio to keep her company, and she listened to music to pass some lonely days. She acquired a broad awareness of classical masters, and appreciated jazz, too. She loved The Great American Songbook, show and movie tunes, and enjoyed the vocal excellence of Fitzgerald, Vaughn, Hartman, Bennet and Sinatra among others. She loved modern classic composers such as Sati, Ravel, and Debussy; and listened to the great American symphonic orchestras of New York, Philadelphia, Cleveland, Chicago and San Francisco.

Like her cooking, music was not just a means of entertainment for her, but a means of finding inner peace and joy.

Carlotta rode horses in NJ for 30 years under the direction of stable owner and instructor Elise Hofmann. This was a critical outlet for Carlotta who had athletic outlets such as swimming, skiing, and tennis at an earlier age, but never the time to take up riding. She found the time with proximity to stables in NJ. She loved being with her instructor, and other riders, taking lessons weekly, and engaging with the equestrian community. It was a wonderful outlet for her for three decades, and something else that she introduced her boys to appreciate.

Carlotta had the opportunity to travel broadly throughout the USA and Canada. She and Darryl traveled to Europe many times, visiting England, France, Italy, Turkey and Spain, and had numerous trips to Asia, including Japan, China, Taiwan, S Korea, Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia and Singapore. Her favorite place among these was Hong Kong, which she visited five times.

Carlotta is survived by her husband of nearly 51 years, Darryl G. Greer, PhD; two sons Adam G. Greer; Geoffrey W. Greer, and daughter-in-law, Betsy Cohen; Sisters, Rosalind Williams Calibuig, and brother-in-law Tino Calibuig; Stephanie M. Sigue; Brother, Luins H. Williams Jr, and sister-in-law Maureen M. Williams; niece Joselyn Sigue Lynch; nephew, Ivan W. Calibuig, and many loving friends and members of the Greer family.

As a cancer survivor and generous individual willing to help others in need, they family suggests, in lieu of flowers or gifts, donations to the following organizations:

The American Cancer Society

Direct Relief

Community Food Bank of New Jersey

Rejoice in Carlotta's loving memory.