Elinor Kraut

Elinor “Ellie” Rosenthal Kraut, 91, of Aventura, Fla., died July 1, 2019. She was born and raised in Princeton and resided in the Trenton area for most of her adult life, living in Trenton after her marriage in 1954 and then moving to Lawrence in 1957 and in 1969 to Ewing. She later maintained a winter, and then a permanent, home in Aventura.

Mrs. Kraut worked as a social worker for the State of New Jersey.

She graduated from Princeton High School in 1946, where she captained the basketball and baseball teams. She received a degree in psychology from Smith College in 1950, where she was captain of the baseball team and president of its Hillel.

She was a member of Adath Israel Congregation, Lawrenceville.

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She learned tennis from her father, Samuel Rosenthal, in her teens, and played and coached tennis until the age of 90. She won numerous tournaments in Trenton, Princeton, and Mercer County throughout the 1950s and 1960s in both singles and doubles, including in partnership with her sister Marilyn Rosenthal.

In 1962 she began teaching tennis at the Trenton YWCA and also taught at the Ewing Adult School and on her own court in Ewing. She coached hundreds of players through the years. In 1968 her family was featured in World Tennis Magazine. In 2016 the National Junior Tennis and Learning (NJTL) of Trenton honored her at their annual gala as one of a group of “Women who rock.” In 2018 her children and tennis friends presented her with an award commemorating 56 years of coaching tennis.

Predeceased by her husband, Irving, in 2001, and her eldest son, Jon, she is survived by four daughters, Robin Kraut Zell of Tekoa, Israel, Carin Kraut Cohen of Voorhees, Lesley Kraut Schwarzman of Princeton, and Wendy Kraut of Aventura; four sons, Bruce Kraut of Lawrenceville, Gary Kraut of Paris, Eric Kraut of Pikesville, Md., and Robert Kraut of Orlando, Fla.; a sister, Marilyn Rosenthal; 25 grandchildren; and 18 great-grandchildren.

Services were held July 3 with arrangements by Orland’s Ewing Memorial Chapel, Ewing. Memorial contributions may be made to National Junior Tennis and Learning of Trenton or Greenwood House in Ewing.