Riverdale parishioner Robert Stauf, 83, remembered for service, song

Robert George Stauf of Yonkers died peacefully on Sept. 16, 2025, at St. John’s Riverside Hospital after a lengthy illness. He was 83.

A native of New York City, Stauf was born Sept. 10, 1942, to the late George Stauf and Anne Horton. Raised on Manhattan’s Upper West Side and later in Kingsbridge, he attended Holy Trinity Grammar School, Fordham Preparatory School and Fordham University, where he earned a bachelor’s degree.

After graduation, he began a decades-long career in education. He first taught at St. Philip Neri Grammar School in the Bronx before moving to Yonkers, where he worked in the city’s public schools, including Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Academy, P.S. 13, P.S. 21 and the PEARLS Hawthorne School. Curious, well read and widely traveled, Stauf was a lifelong learner, mentor and teacher dedicated to fostering understanding across cultural, generational and racial lines.

Stauf’s Roman Catholic faith was central to his life. Nurtured at home and further developed at Fordham by the Jesuits, it shaped his relationships and guided his choices. Devoted to his parish at St. Margaret of Cortona Church in Riverdale, he served as a Eucharistic minister, lector and cantor, and chaired the parish’s adult education committee. He regularly invited speakers to lead discussions and was active in the parish’s Knights of Columbus Council — Pro Patria No. 751 — where he served as chancellor and deputy grand knight.

His ministry as a cantor was especially cherished. Last fall, he was honored by the parish at a Mass of Thanksgiving and reception for his years of generously sharing his musical gifts.

In civic life, Stauf played an active role in the Democratic Party in Yonkers for more than 50 years. Rising from district leader to ward leader, he also served briefly as a member of the Yonkers City Council. He chaired several mayoral committees, including the Human Rights Commission, Community Relations Committee and the Committee on Irish Affairs. In his neighborhood, he led the Yonkers Third Precinct Police Community Council. He was a familiar presence at city functions, and through his political work became involved with many organizations, including the Salvation Army, Kiwanis Club of Yonkers and Brahma Kumaris of New York.

Stauf was also deeply committed to his Irish heritage. During the Troubles in the 1980s and 1990s, he traveled to Northern Ireland as part of U.S. congressional delegations with the late Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan and Rep. Eliot Engel to assess the conflict. As an educator and human rights advocate, he contributed meaningfully to those efforts.

He belonged to the Ancient Order of Hibernians in the Myles Scully Division of Yonkers, where he was honored as Hibernian Man of the Year and chaired the Brendan Murphy Memorial Communion Breakfast. He was also a longtime member of the American Irish Association of Westchester County, serving as president and board chair, and being named Irish American Man of the Year. Stauf also chaired the board of The Tara Circle and was a member of the County Leitrim Society of New York. In 2019, he was named an aide to the grand marshal of the Yonkers St. Patrick’s Day Parade.

He co-hosted “Emerald Focus,” an Irish American community cable show, where his wit and gift for storytelling left a lasting mark.

Stauf is survived by cousins, many friends and his companion of more than 40 years, Catherine T. Marshall of Yonkers.

A Mass of Christian Burial was offered Sept. 22 at St. Margaret of Cortona Church, with interment at St. Mary’s Cemetery in Yonkers.

Memorial gifts may be made in Stauf’s name to Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers, P.O. Box 302, Maryknoll, N.Y. 10545-0302, or St. Margaret of Cortona–St. Gabriel Parish, 6000 Riverdale Ave., Bronx, N.Y. 10471.