Dalia Shalaby Obituary (1975 - 2025)

Dalia Shalaby – gorgeous and beloved daughter, mother, sister, educator, and partner – passed away on July 17, 2025 at her home in Westfield, NJ. Her 49 years of life are marked by a consistent, intense, and passionate commitment to three things: love, children, and immeasurable resilience. Dalia was born on December 17, 1975 in Cairo, Egypt to Sohair and Nabil Shalaby. She was a bright baby with a radiant smile and a distinct light in her eyes. Always a little performer, our photo albums overflow with images of her in the classic Dalia pose: hand on her hip, confident head raised, facing the camera head-on with her magnetic smile. She was excellent. She excelled at school, especially, in every way, winning a national writing award at the age of 10 and accumulating accolades of every kind at every turn. Her excellence was a consistent part of her identity, and came easily to her as a brilliant, engaged, lovable student and a natural, popular, and skilled student leader. Dalia was always extraordinary: a confident, absolutely beautiful standout. She loved her time at South Brunswick High School in the 1990s, leading as student body president and finding deep joy in her high school friendships. She graduated in 1993 and began an equally excellent four years at Rutgers College in New Brunswick, where she held too many leadership positions to count and graduated with highest honors with a degree in psychology in 1997. She stayed on at her beloved alma mater to earn her Master degree in Elementary Education, and launched her 27-year career in education upon graduation from the Rutgers Graduate School of Education in 1998. Dalia taught upper-elementary school as a classroom teacher and an instructional coach in Edison, New Jersey, for 12 years, receiving the statewide Governor’s National Teacher Recognition Award in 2007. She then earned a Master degree in school leadership and stepped into her first role as school principal of Washington Elementary in Edison. She always considered Washington School her one true, most dearly beloved professional home. Following her time at Washington, she served as the principal of Franklin Elementary in Summit before eventually landing her most recent position in September of 2022 as the gushingly proud principal of School 11 in Clifton, New Jersey. A note from one of the children she served there says all you need to know about her as an educator: “What does my principal do all day? Well, first, she talks to people on walkie talkies. This is important because it is about safety. Next, she types on her computer. She does that a lot and she does it very fast. But, if somebody gets injured or is in trouble or sad, she takes care of it right away and with hugs. Finally, she smells like chocolate, and I love her.” Dalia loved those hugs from children and saved nearly every drawing, card, and note they gave her. She was a minimalist who accumulated very few “things,” but she left behind boxes and boxes of these precious treasures from children. For Dalia, especially in her most difficult and challenging times, it was the easy and consistent and overflowing love and hugs from children that sustained, lifted, and healed her. We will forever be grateful to these hundreds of children over those 25+ years for showering Dalia with light, with love, and with that purest variety of joy that only children can provide. Dalia’s entire professional life was dedicated to an unwavering insistence that school can, should, and must be a place where every child is afforded every opportunity to excel fully and completely as a loved, held, and skillfully educated person. As a result of this insistence, she held extraordinarily high standards for herself, for children, and for her colleagues. She was excellent, and she demanded excellence; a no-nonsense leader who expected only the very best from each and every professional serving children. Her insistence on providing what children and families truly deserve from our schools could make her unpopular with those required to work harder and do more. But Dalia cared more about doing right by children than being liked by the people who didn’t share this commitment. Over the years, life dealt Dalia more challenges than were reasonable and more hurt and harm than any one person deserves. Her daughter describes her mother consistently as a phoenix rising from the ashes because she was one; over and over and over and over again. Her strength and resilience in the face of each blow, disappointment, betrayal, loss, and harm, was literally unbelievable. All who knew her were in utter awe of her ability to fall down – and get back up again – so many times. But resilience and strength can be overrated; we each deserve ease, peace, and time and space to be soft and weak, to be held and understood, to be met only with compassion, with support, and with unconditional love. To each of the people who offered her these freedoms and gifts, we thank you from the depths of our hearts for being the reason she was able to sustain flickers of light each time life gave her overwhelming darkness. We especially recognize and thank Jim Vittor, the partner she was blessed enough to begin to build a life alongside, who she described to us as “gifted to me by God for whatever length of time is meant to be. He is made of magic.” Dalia is survived by her three amazing and inspiring children: Sophia, age 23; Jordan, age 19; and Trevor, age 16; her parents, Sohair (SouSou) and Nobel (Nabil); her sister, Carla; her partner, Jim; her cousins Emil, Nancy, and Randa; her aunt Mimi and uncle Salah; her sweet dog Mia; and the beautiful community of adored family, friends, and colleagues who made her 49 years as bright and meaningful as possible. She will be remembered, honored, and treasured all the days of our lives, and she is already deeply missed beyond expression. A private, family-only entombment will take place at Franklin Memorial, as well as a small service to honor her at Ruby Memorial Funeral Home. In addition: by Dalia's wishes, a trust is being established to support the future of her three children. For information on how to contribute to the trust, and/or for details about the service, please send a note to her sister at: cshalaby@gmail.com. PLEASE NOTE: This is the family's *only* request for donations; the family has NOT requested that any donations be sent elsewhere and any information otherwise is NOT supported or endorsed by the family. Thank you.