Rita Paul Sheehan

Rita Paul Sheehan was born “Rivka Peleg” on March 15, 1948 and departed this life on February 11, 2026, at the age of 77. She was born on the Island of Cyprus in the Mediterranean to Emil Peleg and Lili Peleg, both of whom, as survivors of the Holocaust, were in transit to a new life in the nascent Nation of Israel. Rita spent the first 11 years of her life in Israel, while her parents moved from town to town helping to build that Country. In 1959 Rita immigrated into the United States with her parents and two younger brothers, David and Neal, at which time their last name was anglicized to Paul, and Rivka to Rita.

Rita’s family settled in Philadelphia, PA, where Rita attended and graduated from Northeast High School in 1967. She next attended classes at Gratz College, an independent college of Jewish studies, where she took classes in Hebrew, using her facility in that language to teach others. In 1968 she married her high school sweetheart, resulting on April 6, 1969 in the birth of her son, Todd, who became the light of her life. Six years later she learned how to drive, divorced her husband, attached a U-Haul to the back of her used Plymouth Duster, and took Todd to Ohio where her parents and brothers lived. Several years later and several jobs later, she returned to Southern New Jersey where she responded to an ad for a position as a legal secretary in Camden, New Jersey. The day that she arrived for that job interview, she changed her life and that of a young lawyer named Edward Sheehan.

Rita and Edward were married on February 13, 1981, and so began a 45-year long fairy tale romance. During their marriage, among other accomplishments, Rita became a Board member, then President of the Condominium Association in which they lived in Moorestown, NJ, became a Board Member of the Moorestown Visiting Nurses Association, chaired three consecutive Butterfly Balls on behalf of The Bancroft School which raised hundreds of thousands of dollars to care for severely handicapped children and adults, and served at the request of the Mayor of Moorestown on a hand-picked committee charged with beautifying and improving the Township of Moorestown.

In 2010, Rita, Ed and Todd relocated to the community of Governors Club in Chapel Hill, NC, where Rita had helped to design and furnish a new home for their family. In Governors Club, Rita became active on several committees, including the Community’s Appearance Committee, Women’s Golf Association, the LaCoterie dance and dinner committee, breast cancer fund raising committees and efforts to raise funds for the local Ronald McDonald House. More important than all of these charitable and community efforts, Rita became the raison d’etre for her husband Ed, and the consummate loving mother of her son Todd.

Rita is survived by her husband, Ed, her son Todd and her brother Neal Paul (Sherry), two nieces, two nephews, and several cousins. She was predeceased by her parents and her brother David Paul (Twyla also deceased). A Celebration of Life ceremony will be held in Governors Club Country Club at 2:00pm on Sunday March 15, 2026, with all cordially invited to attend. If anyone would like their thoughts about Rita included in the Celebration of her life, please email them to Edward Sheehan at edingovclub@gmail.com. In lieu of flowers or other remembrances, those inclined are encouraged to give a gift to their own favorite charity.