Peter and Sylvia Sammartino; Founded Fairleigh Dickinson

Peter Sammartino, 87, who founded the private Fairleigh Dickinson University, and his wife, Sylvia, 88. Police said Sammartino shot his wife to death and then killed himself. The couple founded Fairleigh Dickinson as a two-year college in 1942 in Rutherford, N.J. It now has more than 12,000 students on three northern New Jersey campuses. Last year Sammartino published “The Man Who Was William Shakespeare,” his 25th book. He also had been an early leader in the restoration of Ellis Island. Sammartino, Fairleigh Dickinson president for a quarter-century until 1967, apparently was distraught over health problems. He recently had a kidney removed and Mrs. Sammartino suffered from Alzheimer’s disease. On Sunday in their Rutherford home.