Obituaries

James E. Potter of East Hampton, an executive with the InterContinental Hotels Group for 32 years, died of heart failure at Stony Brook Southampton Hospital on April 14. He was 86.

Rick Anthony Del Mastro, an executive in the out-of-home advertising industry who was a dedicated family man, civic leader, and philanthropist, died on April 15. A resident of Wainscott, he was 75 and had complications from Covid-19.

John B. Casale Jr., a former co-owner of the Bridgehampton Tennis and Surf Club, died on April 8 at home in Manchester, Vt.  

Stephen L. Friedes, M.D., of East Hampton died of pancreatic cancer at the Kanas Center for Hospice Care in Quiogue on April 7.

Suzanne Sayre McFarlane, a former East Hampton resident and descendent of Thomas Sayre, a founder of the Town of Southampton, died on March 8 at Peconic Landing in Greenport. The cause has not been determined, her family said.

Jan Spoerri, a designer and builder of interactive museum exhibits, died at home on Cedar Street in East Hampton on April 7. He was 54 and had been diagnosed with glioblastoma, a form of brain cancer, 11 months earlier.   

Alex Werner of Sag Harbor, a devoted surf fisherman who was deeply involved in the fishing community here, died at Stony Brook Southampton Hospital last Thursday.

Judith Walker Laughlin, who with her husband, Alexander Mellon Laughlin, owned a house on Ocean Avenue in East Hampton for over seven decades, died at her New York City home on March 31. She was 92 and had been in ill health for a long time.     

Ruth Appelhof, the director at Guild Hall from 1999 to 2016 and an art history scholar, died last Thursday at home in Springs after living with leukemia for two years, according to her husband, Gary Adamek. She was 80.

James H. Loper Jr., a lifelong East Hampton resident until his retirement in 1997, died last Thursday at home in Hurlock, Md.

George Nicholas, who, along with his wife, Stacey, was the owner and operator of the Sunset Cove Marina and Cottages on Three Mile Harbor in Maidstone Park, East Hampton, died of complications from a fall on March 28.

Barbara Ann Johnson, who when young began summering on Jefferys Lane in East Hampton Village with her four siblings and her parents, Thomas A. and June Hess Kelly, and who later made the village her year-round home, died at the age of 87 on April 1 at the Kanas Center for Hospice Care in Quiogue. She had been ill for about a year.

Ira Hedges Washburn Jr., a former Ford Motor Company executive who lived on Windmill Lane in East Hampton, died on March 23 at Peconic Landing in Greenport.

Stephen L. Friedes, M.D., of East Hampton died of pancreatic cancer at the Kanas Center for Hospice Care in Quiogue early Tuesday morning.

Kathleen Ann Surrey, a night manager at Montauk Manor for many years, died of liver failure on March 16 at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City.

John Gordon Noakes, an award-winning advertising executive and a summer resident of Montauk, died on March 23 after having a stroke at a hospital in New Canaan, Conn.

Nicholas R. Grimshaw, who practiced psychotherapy and hypnotherapy at his home office on Pleasant Lane in East Hampton Village, died on Feb. 16 of inoperable Stage 4 lung cancer at Mount Sinai Hospital in Manhattan. He was 65 and had lived with the condition for almost two years.

Ruth Appelhof, the director at Guild Hall from 1999 to 2016 and an art history scholar, died on Thursday at home in Springs after living two years with leukemia.

Ed Porco and Joan Powers Porco, longtime residents of Montauk who more recently lived at Peconic Landing in Greenport, died last week of Covid-19 within four days of each other. They had been ill for two weeks.   

Ed Porco, a former Montauk resident who had been living at Peconic Landing on the North Fork with his wife, Joan, died of Covid-19 on Tuesday at Stony Brook Southampton Hospital.

Eileen M. Carmona of Oak View Highway in East Hampton died at home on Monday.

John Bice, who had spent a lot of time in East Hampton over the past 20 years, died at the Kanas Center for Hospice Care in Quiogue on March 11. He was 76 and had been ill with pneumonia.     

Michael Loos Jr. of Sag Harbor, who had been a goat farmer prior to working in construction on the East End, died on March 1 of respiratory complications from acute myeloid leukemia at Stony Brook University Hospital. He was 54 and had been ill for several years. 

Lorraine L. Bittner of Oakview Highway in East Hampton died on March 10 at her daughter’s house in Wake Forest, N.C., where she had been receiving hospice care. She was 83.

Born on Oct. 16, 1936, to Claude Ballance and the former Mildred Scott Parker, she grew up in a house on Abram’s Landing Road in Amagansett and graduated from East Hampton High School. When she was young, the family lived for a time in Connecticut, where her father, a Coast Guardsman, was stationed.

Patricia M. King of East Hampton, a retired executive assistant and loving mother, grandmother, and aunt, died at home on Feb. 16 at the age of 92.

Later in her life, in East Hampton, she was known to take daily walks, care for her beloved Yorkies, and knit and attend occasional lunches with friends. She also volunteered at R.S.V.P. in Amagansett.

Scott R. Bennett, an Amagansett resident and longtime commercial fishing captain, died at home on Feb. 25 after being ill for several years with multiple afflictions.  

Herbert August, an architect and abstract painter, died on Feb. 25 at home in Water Mill. He was 90.     

Joan Harrison, who was employed for almost 20 years in East Hampton as the personal assistant to Anthony Duke, the founder of Boys and Girls Harbor, died on Feb. 27 at home in Fort Collins, Colo. She was 88.     

Joseph Michael Fitzgerald, a custom home builder, died last Thursday of complications from pneumonia at Port St. Lucie Hospital in Jensen Beach, Fla. The former Amagansett resident was 83, and had been ill for three months.     

James Lipton, the renowned host of the television series “Inside the Actors Studio,” died on Monday at home in Manhattan.