Gloria Dorothy Shima passed peacefully on January 17, 2021, a few weeks shy of her 90th birthday, at the Meadow Lakes Senior Community, Hightstown, NJ where she lived independently for the last 7 years of her life.

Born Dorothy Gloria Lacey on Feb 25, 1931 in New York City, she was the daughter of Michael and Katherine Lacey. Gloria was the younger sister of Thomas and Michael Lacey, and older sister to Joan Dowling and Carole Bellairs.

She loved growing up in New York, and shared fond memories of a childhood spent visiting the opera houses after school and playing street games on the stoop with other neighborhood children.

While raising her five girls in Port Washington on Long Island, Gloria worked as a bookkeeper for Master Iron Craft in Plainview. Her house by The Mill Pond was famous for the large ship bell on the lawn, a historical relic now housed at the South Street Seaport Museum in New York City.

Gloria was a voracious reader and avid follower of current events.  She loved the opera, especially Turandot and anything else Pavarotti, and thought that Dan Rather was just as handsome as Paul Newman.

Gloria was the beloved matriarch of the Shima Girls: five daughters, nine granddaughters, and three grandsons. She is predeceased by her daughter Nancy Shima, and is survived by her daughters Jeanne Ward, Joanne Shima-Raboteau, Carole Mendelson, and Jacqueline O'Dowd and son-in-law James O'Dowd and by twelve grandchildren: Jeanne's daughters Katherine and Meghan, Nancy's girls Kelly and Rosie, Joanne's daughters Jane and Annie, Carole's children Sophie, Michael, and Kyra, and Jackie's children Daniel, Matthew, and Rebecca.  She will be missed by her nieces and many nephews.

She was known as a funny, gentle woman proud of her lovely daughters and their families.  She will be forever missed by all those she touched.

Arrangements under the direction of Kimble Funeral Home, Princeton, NJ were private.