Ernst August Ebsen of Montauk, affectionately known as Cookie Man, died on May 9 at the Southampton Care Center soon after a long visit from his wife and daughter. He was 88 and had been ill with Alzheimer’s disease for several years.
Mr. Ebsen, who had owned delicatessens specializing in German food in Howard Beach, Queens, retired to Montauk in 1990 and began delivering Pepperidge Farm cookies, hence his nickname. For a time he named his boats Sandra D, for his daughter (the ‘D’ was for Daddy’s girl, the family said), but when he asked if it was all right with her if he named his last one Cookie Man, she said yes.
He was born on July 7, 1930, in Germany, one of two children of Beno and Dora Marie Ebsen, and grew up on the Isle of Föhr, one of the Frisian Islands on the coast of the North Sea. He met his wife, Lieselotte Pfitzner, there and they married on Christmas Day 1956. She survives.
Mr. Ebsen was in an oompah band; he played the trombone and the organ. Other pastimes were boating and driving his cookie delivery routes, during which he was often accompanied by his grandson, Eric Niclas of Locust Valley. “They shared a special bond,” his family said.
Mr. Ebsen “was adored so much at the Southampton Care Center,” the family wrote, “that the staff came into his room with tissues to say goodbye.”
In addition to his wife, daughter, and grandson, he is survived by a 3-month-old great-grandson, and by a son, Hark Ebsen, and a granddaughter, both of Long Island. His sister, who lived in Germany, died before him. A nephew in Germany survives.
Mr. Ebsen was cremated. His family plans a private service and burial at sea, probably on his birthday. “His final resting place will be the waters of Montauk, when the weather, winds, and tides are as special as he was,” they wrote. “Fly free and sail on.”
Memorial donations may be directed to the Alzheimer’s Foundation of America, 322 Eighth Avenue, 7th Floor, New York 10001, or to [email protected].