Helen Briavel Holcomb, 83, of Croton-on-Hudson and formerly of Highland Park, NJ, passed away on Saturday, September 27, 2025, at Phelps Hospital in Sleepy Hollow, NY, after a brief illness.
Known to all as “Bria,” she retired to Croton after a long career as a professor of Geography and Urban Planning at the Edward J. Bloustein School at Rutgers University, NJ. She was an enthusiastic and beloved geographer, grandmother, mother, sister, aunt, colleague and friend.
Born to Philippa and Paul Gray on January 13, 1942 in Worcester, England and raised primarily in Nottingham, she graduated with a degree in Geography from Nottingham University and followed with a Dip. Ed. degree from Oxford. A voyage across the Atlantic brought her to the U.S. to attend graduate school at the University of Colorado, Boulder where she received her PhD in Geography.
Bria began her career at Rutgers in 1972, where she remained until her retirement in 2017. A recipient of several teaching awards and former department chair, she coordinated the Hubert Humphrey Fellowship program (for international students) and taught as a Fulbright Scholar at the University of Malta and aboard Semester at Sea, combining her academic pursuits with her lifelong love of travel. Her home was the place of many memorable parties and she hosted countless graduate students, international scholars, and visiting faculty over the years, maintaining many of those friendships for life.
Extended visits to her UK family were always a highlight, including month-long summer stays with her mother in Shrewsbury and family holidays across Europe. She always looked forward to her next return to "jolly olde," as she called it.
A devoted grandmother, she traveled regularly from New Jersey when her grandchildren were little, delighting them with nonstop play sessions. After retirement, she moved to Croton's Harmon neighborhood to be closer to family and became a familiar and friendly face in the area on her daily neighborhood walks.
Friends and family remember her as consistently welcoming, kind, and generous. She enjoyed a good time in the company of others. Favorite hobbies included travel, reading, painting and sketching, and running (walking in later years).
Her two marriages ended in divorce, yet she remained on good terms with both Michael Holcomb (deceased) and Roger Balm. Bria and Michael had one daughter, Genevieve.
She is survived by her daughter, Genevieve Holcomb, son-in-law Daniel Cummings, and grandchildren Sylvan, Wyatt, and Maeve Cummings, as well as her sisters in Shrewsbury, England: Clare Page (Alan) and Miriam West (John); sisters-in-law Beryl Gray and Mary Gray and several nieces and nephews. She was predeceased by her brothers, Fabian and Quentin Gray.
A celebration of life will be held at a future date.
In lieu of flowers, donations to UNICEF or OXFAM would be appreciated.