Beatrice Sterling frelinghuysen, Beatrice Procter Frelinghuysen, the wife of one Congressman and mother of another, who was on the boards of nonprofit organizations in the fields of botany and ballet, died on Monday at Morristown Memorial Hospital in Morristown, N.J., where she lived. She was 77.

The cause was complications from pneumonia, said her son Peter.

Mrs. Frelinghuysen was a member of a family that has long been prominent in New Jersey's public life. She was the wife of Peter H. B. Frelinghuysen, a Republican who represented north central New Jersey in the House from 1953 through 1974. He is related to four earlier Frelinghuysens who were United States senators, one of whom, Frederick T., became a Secretary of State under President Chester A. Arthur.

She and her husband had five children, including Rodney P. Frelinghuysen, also a Republican Congressman from north central New Jersey, who was elected in 1994.

At her death, Mrs. Frelinghuysen was on the board of the Berkshire Botanical Garden in Stockbridge, Mass. In the 1980's, she was on the board of the National Tropical Botanical Garden in Hawaii.

Source: nytimes