Jeffrey Miller Hoagland of East Hampton, a lifelong fan of the New York Yankees, died of kidney failure on Saturday at Stony Brook Southampton Hospital. He was 68.
Born on Oct. 20, 1950, in New York City, to the former Constance Miller and Edgar Day Hoagland, he grew up in Greenwich, Conn., spending every summer in East Hampton at his family’s house on Dunemere Lane. He learned to sail as a junior yacht camper at the Devon Yacht Club.
After graduating from the Hotchkiss School and Princeton, he moved here, built a commercial greenhouse, and started a wholesale plant business, which he eventually sold to Jane Lappin. She runs it now as the Wainscott Farms landscaping company.
With the proceeds from the sale, Mr. Hoagland bought a sailboat, which he named Haven, and embarked on a solo journey to the Caribbean. When he returned he took up carpentry, and became an expert craftsman. His work can be seen in numerous houses and boats hereabouts, according to his family.
He loved the natural beauty of the East End and was an ardent outdoorsman. On fall mornings, he would head to the beach to surfcast for striped bass, and he would hike the trails every weekend. When there was a full moon, he would often gather friends to walk the Montauk cliffs.
He also hiked the Pyrenees in France, and enjoyed exploring the coastal villages of Brittany as well as the trails between them. In England, he walked the coast-to-coast paths and the South West Coast path from Somerset to Cornwall.
During summers in East Hampton, he and Anne Haring, his longtime partner, had nightly dinners at Wiborg’s Beach. He also made a point of attending the annual fireworks display, and participated in every Soldier Ride held by the Wounded Warrior Project.
In addition to Ms. Haring, he is survived by a daughter, Gabrielle Hoagland of Sag Harbor, and by his mother, Constance Hoagland of East Hampton. A brother, Roger Hoagland, and sister, Valerie Smith, also of East Hampton, also survive.