Obituaries

    Claude Simon Sarfati, who owned the Huntting Inn in East Hampton for a season and managed the Bridgehampton Club for six years, died after a brief illness on Sunday at his house in East Hampton, three days short of his 83rd birthday.

    William R. Peters, a corporate lawyer and businessman who had lived in East Hampton for the last 12 years, died on Jan. 21 after a sudden, short illness. His wife of 22 years, Shelley McBee Peters, was by his side. He had just turned 67.

    Mr. Peters was born on Jan. 18, 1946, in Great Neck, and grew up there. He was a graduate of the University of Rochester, where he received a bachelor’s degree, and of New York University Law School, where he earned juris doctor and master’s degrees. During the Vietnam era, he served in the Army.

    Irene McClain Weidert, who grew up in Sag Harbor and lived in Southampton and Lady Lake, Fla., over the years, died at home in Southampton on Jan. 20. She was 85 and had had a long illness.

    Alice Vera Darden, who had been a devoted member of the Bridgehampton First Baptist Church since 1935, died at the age of 101 on Jan. 23 and was eulogized there at a service conducted by the Rev. Frank Bryant on Tuesday.

    Born on Aug. 31, 1911, Mrs. Darden died at the home of one of her granddaughters, Alice Johnson, in Southampton.

    William Martin Stahl, M.D., a surgeon and professor of medicine who was considered a master teacher by his peers and legions of students and residents whom he trained, died at home in Larchmont, N.Y., on Dec. 22, at the age of 90. His family described his death as natural and peaceful.

    Robert Ellsworth Bennett, a locksmith who had worked at many trades as a younger man, died of cancer at home in Springs on Jan. 15. He was 77.

    He was born on July 14, 1935, to Lewis and Lily Wood Bennett on Cedar Street in East Hampton “in the little white house next door to the firehouse, which has since been torn down,” his family wrote. He was a tenth-generation East Hampton Bennett.

    William J. Hood, a writer and former Office of Strategic Services and Central Intelligence Agency officer, died at home in Amagansett early in the morning on Monday. The cause was a stroke. A full obituary will appear in a future issue.

    Josephine Iacono, the last surviving sibling of the six children who grew up on the Iacono Farm on Long Lane in East Hampton, died at the Hamptons Center for Rehabilitation and Nursing in Southampton on Sunday. She had lived there for the last two and a half years but her family, who visited her there the previous day, said she seemed in good health and her death was unexpected. She was 88.

    Sven E. Danielson Jr., whose passion and career, the restoration of historic buildings, were one and the same, died in Castine, Me., on Jan. 17 of metastatic melanoma. He was 70 and had moved to Castine 10 years ago.

    Susan Alling Miller, a summer resident of Amagansett for many years, died in her sleep at home in Stamford, Conn., on Jan. 17. She was 85.

    Born Helen Susan Alling in Newark, N.J., on Dec. 21, 1927, she was the oldest daughter of Dr. Frederic A. Alling and Helen Stearly. Her maternal grandfather was the Rt. Rev. Wilson Stearly, the fourth bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Newark.

    In the 1930s, her family moved to Montclair, N.J., where she lived for most of her life. The family spent summers on Buzzards Bay, Mass., and in Quiogue.

    A memorial service for Dr. Ethel Person of Amagansett and Manhattan, sponsored by the Psychoanalytic Center of Columbia University, will take place on Feb. 9 from 1 to 3 p.m. in the Uris Auditorium of New York-Presbyterian Hospital, 1300 York Avenue in Manhattan.

    Dr. Person, who died in October, was among those profiled in The New York Times Magazine’s annual end-of-year “The Lives They Lived” issue.

    A Sag Harbor native who grew up on Bridge Street in that village, then married an East Hampton man and lived on Pantigo Road in East Hampton Village, Barbara P. Lester died on Sunday at the Riverhead Care Center. She was 93.

    Mrs. Lester worked as a housekeeper for many East Hampton residents, including the actress Dina Merrill, her family said.

    James H. O’Connell of Bayberry Lane on North Haven, who appeared in numerous community theater productions and was an active member of the Sag Harbor Knights of Columbus and  a lector at St. Andrew’s Catholic Church in Sag Harbor, died of pneumonia at Southampton Hospital on New Year’s Day. He was 99.

    Mr. O’Connell had retired from Met Life in 1978, where he had a 44-year career as an underwriter and in marketing.

    Ethyl C. Comerford, formerly of Noyac, a teacher at the Most Holy Trinity School in East Hampton for many years, died on Jan. 8 at the Fairview, a nursing home in Groton, Conn., where she had lived for the past nine months. Ms. Comerford was 92.

    Born on Jan. 14, 1920, in Astoria, Queens, to Joseph Masheck and Rose Cermak, she received a bachelor’s degree from what was formerly known as St. Joseph’s College for Women in Brooklyn. After graduating, she worked first as a secretary at Universal Pictures and later as an executive secretary at the Kimberly-Clark Corporation.

    Mary Michell Kernell, 87,  who came to Amagansett in the early 1980s by way of Beverly Hills, New York City,  Port Washington, and the village of Sands Point in Nassau County, and whose family described her as savvy, extremely well read, kind, and strikingly beautiful, died on Jan. 14 at Southampton Hospital following a brief illness.

    James Albert Christensen of Laurel Trail in Sag Harbor, a 91-year old World War II Veteran, died at the Hamptons Center for Rehabilitation and Nursing in Southampton on Jan. 14, seven weeks after suffering a brain hemorrhage.

    Born on Sept. 25, 1921 in Carrollton, Mich. to the former Iva King and Albert Christensen, Mr. Christensen grew up in Saginaw, Mich., where he graduated from St. Andrew’s High School. While there, he served on the Eucharistic committee, English club, Sodality fellowship, and was a member of the football team.

    Robert Bruce Anderson Sr., a World War II veteran and descendant of one of East Hampton’s founding families, the Fithians, died on Friday at Southampton Hospital. He was 90 and had lived on Cooper Lane in East Hampton for most of his life.

    He was born on the family homestead on Indian Wells Highway in Amagansett on Jan. 9, 1923, one of 10 children of Herbert Keith Anderson and the former Sybil Rae Fithian. He attended grade school in Amagansett and graduated in East Hampton High School’s class of 1940.

    Walter E. Ershow, who flew 23 missions over enemy territory during World War II, died on Jan. 9 at the age of 89. The cause was heart failure, his family said. A part-time resident of East Hampton, he had been in declining health since October.

    Born in Newark, N.J., on Sept. 14, 1923, to David J. Ershowsky and the former Minnie Reinfeld, he grew up in the Weequahic section of the city. He graduated from Weequahic High School and then attended Virginia Polytechnic Institute.

    Robert Harold Levenson, who was as famous for his taglines in the golden age of advertising as he was for his roses in East Hampton, died in New York City on Jan. 16. He was 83 and had chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

    Mr. Levenson was eulogized in print and blogs in the last week by the advertising industry as a visionary and a generous mentor who told copywriters to imagine they were writing a letter and describing something to an intelligent friend who knew less about the product than they did.

    Robert Bennett of Neck Path, Amagansett, died on Tuesday at the age of 77. A celebration of his life will be announced for a date in the late spring, his wife, Anna Mae Bennett, said. An obituary will appear in a future issue.

    Myron Shulman, an architect who designed houses that embraced the openness and light of the East End, died on Jan. 7 at his house on Sarah’s Lane in Amagansett of Parkinson’s disease. He was 72 and had been in declining health for 13 years.

    Known to his friends as Bud, he was born in Newark to Murray Shulman and the former Augusta Charry on Feb. 17, 1937. Growing up in the Weequahic section of the city, he graduated from Weequahic High School, then attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s School of Architecture.

    Mary Kernell, a longtime resident of Amagansett, died early Tuesday morning at Southampton Hospital. She was 87 years old.

    A full obituary will appear in next week’s Star.

    Thomas Solheim, a Navy veteran who worked at the Montauk I.G.A. for many years, was found dead at St. Therese of Lisieux Catholic Church in Montauk last Thursday. The cause of death has not been determined. He was 56.

    He was born on Dec. 28, 1956, on Staten Island, a son of John and Gladys Ford. Mr. Ford survives and lives in Montauk.

    The Yardley and Pino Funeral Home in Sag Harbor is handling arrangements for James Christensen of Laurel Trail, Sag Harbor, who died on Monday at the Hamptons Center for Rehabilitation and Nursing in Southampton. He was 91. A service had not been announced as of yesterday.

    William G. Field, who started Field Appliance Service in East Hampton with his daughter and son, died on Jan. 7, in Ellenton, Fla., after an automobile accident. He was 80.

    Mr. Field was born in Springs on April 22, 1932, to William H. Field and the former Concetta Alberti, and was “an original Bonacker,” his family said.

    Robert G. Lamparter of Montauk, a civic activist, Boy Scout leader, and dedicated surfcaster who worked passionately to give back to the hamlet he called home, died last Thursday at Southampton Hospital. He was 77 and had cancer.

    Mr. Lamparter built a summer house in Montauk in 1973, splitting his time between Montauk and Commack until he moved east year round in 1996, when he retired from his job as an art and photography teacher at Walt Whitman High School in Huntington.

    Sandra Cantey, a master gardener who designed the gardens at Home, Sweet Home in East Hampton in the 1970s and was also involved in a number of other village activities, died at Southampton Hospital on Dec. 28 after a long illness. She was 74.

    William Cathor of Montauk, a retired New York City police officer, died while enroute to Southampton Hospital on Dec. 17. He was 63 had lung cancer for three-and-a-half years.

    Mr. Cathor was an army veteran and served with the New York Police Department. for 20 years. He was born on May 14, 1949, in Queens. He grew up in Flushing, attended the St. Ann’s parochial school there, and graduated from Francis Lewis High School, also in Queens.

    Ronald E. Sullivan, a seaman who moved to Montauk to raise his family there, died at home in his sleep on Dec. 21 at 74 years of age. Doctors were uncertain of the cause of death, but his family said he died peacefully.

    Born in the Bronx to Edward Joseph Sullivan and the former Anne Dunham on March 16, 1938, he grew up in the Bronx, enlisting in the Navy after he graduated from high school.

    “He served all over the world — Spain, Tripoli, Scotland,” his daughter Julie Smith remembered yesterday.

     Margaret E. Stokes, who was 93 and lived at the mobile home park on Oakview Highway in East Hampton, died at home on Christmas Day. She had lived in this area for more than 30 years.