Obituaries

Barbara Gordon Rickards, who lived on Schellinger Road in Amagansett for the last 35 years of her life, died of heart failure at home on Monday. She was 84 and had been in declining health for the past year.

“She enjoyed her family,” said her daughter Liz Pucci of East Hampton. “She enjoyed antiquing and painting — she was a painter.”

Barbara S. Moore, who had lived in East Hampton since 2002, died in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 28 with her husband, children, and beloved springer spaniel by her side. She was 66 and had ovarian cancer.

Evelyn C. Fischer, a longtime resident of Montauk, died peacefully at the Seabury at Fieldhome, an assisted living facility in Cortlandt Manor, N.Y., on Oct. 30. She was 95.

Mrs. Fischer was born in the Bronx on Nov. 28, 1918, to Ole and Jenny Christiansen. The family later moved to Pelham, N.Y., where she graduated from Pelham Memorial High School. Prior to getting married, she worked for The New York Times.

Lewis Zacks, an artist who lived in Springs, died on Sunday at the age of 83. He leaves his wife, the poet Fran Castan, two sons, Stephen and Daniel Zacks, a daughter, Jane Birbara, and their families. A full obituary will appear in a future issue.

Thomas A. Twomey, a lawyer, civic leader, and chairman of the East Hampton Library’s board of trustees, died of a heart attack early Sunday morning after collapsing at his house in East Hampton’s Northwest Woods.

Andrew W. Irvine, a Vietnam veteran who lived in Sag Harbor for 25 years before moving to Southampton, died on Monday at Good Shepherd Hospice in Port Jefferson. He was 74.

Mr. Irvine had Parkinson’s disease as a result of the Agent Orange he was exposed to while serving in Vietnam, his longtime friend, Joanne Stratton of Sag Harbor, said. He collapsed in his house last week after experiencing a hemorrhagic stroke.

Claire Mahoney-Haeg, who lived on Springy Banks Road in East Hampton for 10 years, died at home on Monday. She was 70 and had cancer for three years.

She moved to East Hampton from Centerport in 1999 after her now-husband, Richard Haeg, moved here. They would have celebrated their ninth wedding anniversary on Sunday, but had been together about 16 years, Mr. Haeg said.

Frances L. Gaines, who raised three children in the house on Middle Highway in East Hampton in which her husband, Thomas E. Gaines, had been born, died in her sleep last Thursday following a long illness, her family said. She was 91.

She married Mr. Gaines on June 7, 1947, in Little Rock, Ark. After he graduated from Oklahoma A&M, the couple relocated to East Hampton in the summer of 1949. In 1978, they moved to Dayton Lane in the village, where she had lived ever since. Her husband died in 2012.

Jesse M. Rodriguez Jr., who worked for 25 years as a custodian and bus driver for the Amagansett School District, died on Friday at Southampton Hospital. He was 82 and had been ill for several months, his family said.

A lifelong Amagansett resident, Mr. Rodriguez enlisted in the Army in 1952 and served in Germany. He married Magdalene Yurkens of Sag Harbor on Sept. 7, 1957. She died before him.

For 20 years the couple owned a home in Key Largo, Fla., where they spent winters. He enjoyed golf, fishing, camping, and spending time with his wife and family.

Karen D’Avanzo, who had a doctorate in psychology from Long Island University, worked for Yale University in New Haven and the New School in New York City while also running a private practice and conducting clinical research. Her specialty was children and adolescents. She died on Oct. 23 of complications of Alzheimer’s disease at Southampton Hospital. She was 57.

Ruth Constance Garraway, who lived in Springs and East Hampton for about 40 years, died on Nov. 4 at the Rutland Healthcare and Rehab Center in Rutland, Vt., where she had moved two years ago. Her daughter Tammy Brown lives in Rutland. Mrs. Garraway was 94.

If Ben Bradlee was the archetypal American newspaper editor — brash, gravelly voiced, profane, barrel-chested — he also happened to preside over his paper, The Washington Post, during a golden age of journalism, 1968 to 1991, when reporters’ work never mattered more.

Dorothy May Rodriguez, who was known as Darcy and had worked at many deli counters around East Hampton, died at Southampton Hospital last Thursday. She was 48 and had cancer.

Ms. Rodriguez, who grew up in Amagansett, lived in Springs with her children, Colin, 13, and Katalina, 11. “Her sincerity and ability to connect with anyone who walked through the door was contagious, and so many people will remember starting their day with a smile from Darcy,” her family said.

Jack Morelli, a musician and cook who lived in Amagansett and East Hampton for four decades, died on Saturday at Stony Brook University Hospital of complications from a stroke. He was 61.

Mr. Morelli had worked as a property caretaker and, most recently, as a private chef. “He loved to cook for people,” his daughter, Janae Anderson of Nashville, said.

Joan Wyckoff adopted East Hampton as her second and then primary residence as an adult, but was an active and devoted member of the community here whose contributions were felt at the East Hampton Chamber of Commerce, the Springs Library, Bay Street Theater, East Hampton Presbyterian Church, and Meals on Wheels.

Ms. Wyckoff, who was 84, died in hospice care on Oct. 25 in Melville after a six-week illness with heart disease. She had lived on Argyle Lane in East Hampton for 35 years and summered in Amagansett for 20 years before that.

Word has been received of the death in July of John Thomas Cameron, a summer resident of Sag Harbor since childhood. Mr. Cameron, who also lived in Charleston, S.C., died of a massive heart attack. He was 57.

Steven Donald Cookingham of Montauk, who was 57, died at Southampton Hospital on Oct. 28 after having a heart attack.

 Mr. Cookingham had lived in Montauk since 1998, pursuing a career as a craftsman, most recently with Montauk Craftsman Inc. He was said to take great pride in his work and to pay meticulous attention to detail.

Catherine M. Reid, who for many years did the bookkeeping for Reid Brothers auto repair in Sag Harbor, her sons’ business, died at home in Amagansett on Oct. 8. She was 88 and had been under hospice care, her family said.

She was born in Liverpool, England, on Dec. 27, 1925, to Charles J. Reynolds and the former Mary Margaret McNeish, and immigrated as a child to Australia, where her maternal uncles worked aboard ships.

Visiting hours for Joan M. Wyckoff of East Hampton, who died on Saturday at the age of 84, will be on Sunday from 1 to 3 p.m. at the Nolan and Taylor-Howe Funeral Home at 5 Laurel Avenue in Northport. The service will begin at 3 p.m. that day at the funeral home. An obituary for her will appear in a future issue.

Frances Theresa Hickey of East Hampton, who was known as Terry, died at home on Sept. 22 at the age of 66. Friends attributed her death to natural causes.

John C. Hardy, an artist and teacher who lived in SoHo and Springs, died of complications from a stroke at Beth Israel Hospital in New York City on Oct. 10 in the company of Joan Semmel, his companion for the past 21 years. He was 91.

Samuel Alan Meddaugh, who was valedictorian of East Hampton High School’s class of 1954 before going on to a career in the fledgling computer industry in the 1960s, died at home in Eagan, Minn., on Oct. 13 of complications from a rare heart disease. He was 78.

Aileen F. Brody, 81, an East Hampton resident since the 1990s, died on Friday. Her family said she had been ill for a short time.

Music was an important element of Mrs. Brody’s life. She earned a bachelor’s degree in the teaching of piano skills from the University of Hartford’s Hartt School of Music, and went on to give piano concerts and private lessons. She passed her love of music to her only child, Martha Brody, and together they performed recitals at the Jewish Center of the Hamptons.

Donald M. Kennedy, who survived polio, competed in the Paralympics for many years, and went on to a successful career in law, died at home in Hampton Bays last Thursday. The 81-year-old, who spent summers in Montauk since 1954, had been under a doctor’s care for atrial fibrillation.

A memorial gathering in honor of Asa G. Peckham, formerly of East Hampton, who died in Tampa, Fla., on Oct. 3, will be held at the American Legion Hall in Amagansett on Nov. 1 at 1 p.m.

Mr. Peckham’s obituary will appear in a future issue. He was 63.

Word has reached The Star of the death on Sept. 22 of Frances Theresa (Terry) Hickey of East Hampton. She was 66.

A service will be held on Nov. 1 at 3:30 p.m. in St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in East Hampton. A full obituary will appear at a future time.

Anna Dehanich died on Friday at home on Harbor Road in Amagansett, where she had lived since 2002. She was 99.

Her family said she was a caring, loving, religious person, who lived life to the fullest. “Anna was full of knowledge and wisdom,” they said.

Ms. Dehanich was born in Brooklyn on July 25, 1915, and grew up there, attending P.S. 172 and Bay Ridge High School. Her parents, John Dehanich and the former Catherine Uravich, had been married in the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1906; they came to America three years later.

Jack William Henry Mattair, a psychoanalyst who formerly practiced in Manhattan and East Hampton, died in his sleep at home in East Hampton on Friday. He was 81. His family said the cause of death was not known.

A graduate of the University of Florida, Mr. Mattair earned a Master of Divinity degree from Emory University and a master’s degree in psychoanalysis from the Center for Modern Psychoanalytic Studies in Manhattan. He later became a faculty member there.

Robert D. Mulford, who served as organist and choir director of the East Hampton Methodist Church and the Springs Presbyterian Church for many years until his retirement in 2001, died of congestive heart failure on Sept. 22 at D’Youville Senior Care, the long-term nursing facility of the D’Youville Life and Wellness Community in Lowell, Mass. He was 89 and had been in declining health, his family said.

Madeline Patricia Betts, who spent much of her life in Sag Harbor as both a year-round and summer resident, died at Sem Haven, a residential care center in Milford, Ohio, on Sept. 29. She had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease six years ago, her family said. She was 90.