Bernice Maseritz Hoyt, wife of Earl Hoyt Jr. and an 18-year resident of Wantage, died at Saucon Valley Manor in Hellertown, Pa., on Monday, March 4, 2024, after a brief illness. She was 85.
Born Bernice Phillips Maseritz on Sept. 23, 1938, in Pottsville, Pa., a daughter of the late Harriet E. Phillips and Bernard D. Maseritz, she lived in Cleveland and Detroit, then was raised in Bloomfield, graduating from Bloomfield High School in 1956.
She earned a bachelor of fine arts in graphic design from Pratt Institute in 1960.
She was a graphic designer whose career began at JCPenney Co., where she was the advertising department’s first female designer, and continued at iconic Manhattan-based agencies Raymond Lowey Associates, William Snaith Associates, and Lippincott & Margulies. She had a lifelong interest in the creative arts.
She married fellow Pratt graduate Earl Edward “Bud” Hoyt Jr. and for many years was vice president and graphic designer at Earl’s industrial design and marketing consultancy, the Hoyt Group.
The couple enjoyed playing “pick and sing” style folk and country guitar and became enamored with swing, line, two-step and clog dancing from Manhattan dance nights and lessons to camps and festivals in the Hudson Valley.
Bernice’s early solo interests included reimagining furniture with intricate painted folk art designs and motives, but she found her greatest passion in watercolor painting and monotype print-making, studying under nearly a dozen instructors in Woodstock, N.Y., and entering numerous juried art shows in New York and New Jersey.
An award-winning exhibitor at the Woodstock Artist Association, Salmagundi Club and Catherine Lorillard Wolfe Art Club among others, Bernice established an art gallery at her former home in Woodstock in the 1990s.
Before residing in Wantage, Bernice also lived in East Stroudsburg, Pa.; Stone Ridge, N.Y., and Franklin Lakes.
In addition to her husband, currently a resident of Arden Courts Memory Care in Easton, Pa., Bernice is survived by two sons, Earl “Ted” Hoyt III and his wife Stacey Gordon Hoyt of Stroudsburg and Justin P. Hoyt of Wantage; and three granddaughters, Winnai Delight and Eva Patricia, both of Stroudsburg, and Marina Marjorie of Madison.
Bernice was preceded in death by her sister, Joan Louise of York, Pa.
A memorial service and inurnment at the All Faiths’ Memorial Tower Columbarium at George Washington Memorial Park, Paramus, will be held at the family’s convenience.
Online condolences may be offered to the family at www.pinkelfuneralhome.com