Obituaries

    Catherine O’Neill, who helped found the Women’s Refugee Commission in 1989 and in a long career had worked for the United Nations and the International Monetary Fund among other notable organizations, died on Dec. 26 at the University of California Medical Center in Los Angeles. She was 70 and had had cancer for 12 years.

    “I count myself a lucky survivor and am pleased, as I hope readers will be, with what I’ve done with my time,” Harvey Shapiro wrote in the author’s note of his final book of poems, “The Sights Along the Harbor,” published in 2006.

    An editor at The New York Times for nearly 40 years and the author of 12 books of poetry, Mr. Shapiro died on Monday in Manhattan. He was 88 and had been in failing health since an operation in November.

    Holly B. Zink Miller of Dogwood Street in Noyac died on Sunday at the Hamptons Center for Rehabilitation and Nursing in Southampton. She was 58. Her death followed treatment for pneumonia at Southampton Hospital, her family said.

    Ms. Miller was described by her family as a mother and homemaker with a loving, generous spirit. She was an extraordinary cook, they said, and enjoyed sharing her baking and chocolate-making talents with her loved ones, especially during the many memorable celebrations she hosted at home.

    Like most college students, Grace Kaufman went to class and did her homework.  Unlike most of her classmates, however, she had earned her first academic degree when Franklin D. Roosevelt was president. Ms. Kaufman, a longtime East Hampton resident, died on Dec. 25 in Marlborough, Mass. She had lived for the last 12 years at Lasell Village in Newton, Mass., a retirement community whose residents do hundreds of hours of course work each year at Lasell University, which owns the complex.

    Beate Sirota Gordon, the author of the key women’s rights aspects in the post-war Japanese Constitution, died of pancreatic cancer at home in Manhattan on Dec. 30. She was 89.

    Ms. Gordon, who had summered in Amagansett since about 1990, was attracted to the South Fork by its art scene. “She had dear friends in the arts community,” her grandson Sam Gordon said.

    A gifted linguist who spoke six languages, she was born in Vienna, Austria, on Oct. 25, 1923, to Leo Sirota and the former Augustine Horenstein.

    Joan Mercado, who had worked in the hospitality and travel industries, died last Thursday at 74 in Conroe, Tex., where she was visiting her son, George Mercado, and his family. Her family said she had been in poor health, but her death was unexpected.

    Irene Dynenson Steinman lived through one of the 20th century’s darkest times. The longtime resident of the Northwest area of East Hampton died on Nov. 30 in West Nyack, N.Y. She was 85.

    She was born in Lodz, Poland, in 1927. In 1941, her family fled the invading German army for Russian-controlled territory, where they obtained visas from Chiune Sugihara, Japanese diplomat to Lithuania. Sugihara is credited with saving the lives of thousands of Jews by way of the travel visas he issued.

    Juana Maria Bahamondes-Castro of Queens Lane, East Hampton, died at Southampton Hospital on Dec. 11 after a yearlong illness. She was 77, having been born in Las Cabras, Chile, on June 12, 1935.

    Born to Abraham Castro and Rufina Donoso, Ms. Bahamondes-Castro was one of 12 children, all of whom immigrated to this country.

    She was married to Jose Bahamondes, who survives, and had enjoyed life as a parent and homemaker.

    Richard I. Mark of East Hollow Road, East Hampton, and New York City died at home in Manhattan on Dec. 17 of congestive heart failure. He was 80.

    Mr. Mark had been a tax lawyer and partner, first at KPMG and later at First Manhattan Company, an investment advisory firm, both in New York City.

    He was born in Brooklyn on Nov. 21, 1932, to Alexander Mark and the former Sonia Zadanoff, and grew up in Woodridge, N.Y. He graduated from Syracuse University and Harvard Law School, passing the New York bar examination and also becoming a certified public accountant.

    Ruth Ratcliffe, who loved everything about the Sag Harbor area and never wanted to leave, her family said, died at home on North Haven on Dec. 23. She was 91 and had lived there for 56 years.

    Born in Brooklyn on April 22, 1921, to Henry and Rose Stampfl Bornkamp, she was very close to her only sibling, Robert Bornkamp, who died in 2011.

    She married Robert Ratcliffe in the fall of 1941. During World War II, Ms. Ratcliffe was a true Rosie the Riveter, working as an aircraft riveter.

    Louise Turissini, who lived in Noyac year-round from 1968 to 1995, died on Dec. 24 in Indianapolis. She was 96.

    Ms. Turissini began visiting Noyac in 1947 with her husband, Dan Turissini. In 1968, they became full-time residents. After he died, she lived there until 1995, when she went to live with family. While living in Noyac, she was a member of the Sag Harbor Columbiettes, a Catholic women’s organization.

    She was born Louise Monchiero on Feb. 11, 1916, in New York City to the former Teresita Zaghini and Luigi Monchiero.

    Through her active roles in the Bridgehampton community and with riding and racing of horses and her charitable work, Lynn Dart Wesnofske touched the lives of many people. Ms. Wesnofske, of Brick Kiln Road in Bridgehampton, died on Dec. 26 at Stony Brook Hospital from complications from pneumonia. She was 71.

Nina Capilets, who spent many summers living near Gardiner’s Bay in Amagansett, died shortly after a massive stroke on Dec. 20 in Naples, Fla. She was 89.

    One of her five daughters, Corrine Capilets of Amagansett, said yesterday that her mother held on after the stroke until all of her daughters arrived in Florida and gathered together with her, when she died peacefully.

    There will be a funeral service at 11 a.m. tomorrow at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church for Sandra Cantey, a Wooded Oak Lane,  East Hampton, resident who died on Friday at Southampton Hospital.

    An obituary will appear in a future issue.

    Elizabeth Marie Dragotta, a lifelong resident of Amagansett and East Hampton, died on Sunday while vacationing with her family in Palm Beach Shores, Fla. She was 74 and had been ill for some time.

    Jonathan L. Auerbach, a resident of and lover of all things Sagaponack for the past 20 years, died of cancer on Nov. 29 in New York City with his family by his side. He was 70 years old.

    Mr. Auerbach, who was the founder and managing director of Auerbach Grayson and Company, which provides international securities research, execution, and settlement for United States institutions. He was also a dedicated supporter of the arts, serving in leadership roles at the Shakespeare Globe Center in the United States, as well as the Globe Center in London, which he helped found.

    Rosalie Strong Wootten of Taylors, S.C., an East Hampton native and member of one of the town’s founding families, died at home on Dec. 8 of a brain hemorrhage. She was 85.

    The only girl in a family of four children, she was born in East Hampton on Sept. 25, 1927, the daughter of James Madison Strong and Flora Sweeting Strong, and was called Rose by her family.

    Her great-grandfather was Capt. James G. Scott, who was the Montauk Lighthouse keeper for 25 years.

    Joseph Radon Jr., a veteran of World War II who lived on Ayrshire Place in Springs for over 30 years, died at home on Nov. 5. He was 86 and had emphysema.

    He was born in 1926 in New York City, a son of Joseph Radon and the former Anna Kohut. Mr. Radon served in the Army Air Corps during World War II from July 1944 to August 1946. He was self-employed for most of his life.

    Mr. Radon is survived by a brother, Richard Radon of Springs. A sister, Lillian Gibson, died before him. He was buried at Calverton National Cemetery on Nov. 9.

    George Dayton Payne III died in his sleep on Dec. 11 at the East Hampton house where he had lived for most of his life. He was 86. In his last years he had emphysema and vascular disease that resulted in the amputation of one of his legs.

    John R. Talmage, who grew up in East Hampton and the Bronx, died on Dec. 5 in Middleburg Heights, Ohio, following an aneurism. He was 74.

    Mr. Talmage was born in New York City on Feb. 2, 1938. Raised in East Hampton by his mother, the former Ruth Thinnes, and his stepfather, Donald Gould, he graduated from East Hampton High School with the class of 1955 and went on to Pace College and Rutgers University, eventually becoming a certified public accountant.

    Jeffrey Brackett Potter died at Southampton Hospital on Saturday after a brief case of pneumonia. He was 94. A resident of East Hampton, he was the author of several books, including an oral biography of Jackson Pollock, “To a Violent Grave,” which was published in 1985. He also wrote two works of children’s fiction that were published by Viking Press, “Elephant Bridge” and “Robin is a Bear.” At one time, he ran a marine construction company here, East Hampton Dredge and Dock, whose motto was “Your Bottom is Our Business.” 

    James Joseph Corless of Montauk and Dobbs Ferry, N.Y., died of a heart attack on Dec. 11 while en route to Montauk. Mr. Corless, who was known to friends and family as Jim, was the founder and chief executive of Datacom Management Sciences of Norwalk, Conn. He was 85.

    D.M.S.I., as the company is known, provides equipment for large-scale communications systems for such clients as the United States Navy and Coast Guard. During the 1980s, Mr. Corless oversaw its work on the automation of many of the U.S.’s major telephone switching systems.

    Leonard B. Harmon, a retired insurance company owner  and championship bridge player who lived on Jason’s Lane in East Hampton and who was awarded the Purple Heart for an eye injury during World War II, died at home on Nov. 27. The cause was heart failure and stroke, his family said. He was 93.

    A memorial service for Louise Wilson of East Hampton, who died on Dec. 8, will take place on Saturday at 11 a.m. at the Calvary Baptist Church on Spinner Lane in East Hampton.

    Last week’s obituary for Ms. Wilson should have included the name of her son Windell Gant of Waterboro, S.C.

    Miriam Brooks, known as Mim, died on Dec. 12, two days shy of her 94th birthday. She had moved from East Hampton to Binghamton, N.Y., in 2008, and lived most recently in Elizabeth Church Manor, a nursing home there.

    Born in Trenton, N.J., in 1918, the daughter of Marion and Bertram Thompson, she graduated from Trenton High School and went to work as a telephone switchboard operator.

    Capt. Milton L. Miller Sr., a lifelong commercial fisherman and 12th-generation member of an East Hampton family, died on Sunday in his sleep at the Hamptons Center for Rehabilitation and Nursing in Southampton. He was 97.

    Timothy Allen Smith, a 27-year member of the Springs Fire Department whom friends called Chick, died on Nov. 30 of a heart-related illness. He was 51.

    His friends said he was “a born, bred Bonacker.” A lifelong resident of East Hampton and graduate of East Hampton High School, Mr. Smith was a carpenter who enjoyed boating, fishing, clamming, and watching Nascar races.

    Leon Jaroff was a man who did not suffer fools gladly. A senior editor at Time magazine, in charge at different times of its science, medicine, environment, and behavior sections, he wrote some 44 Time cover stories and a column for the magazine called “Skeptic Eye.” He was 85 when he died at his Further Lane, East Hampton, residence on Oct. 20, having been in declining health for some time. A memorial gathering was held at the Time-Life Building in Rockefeller Center on Nov. 29.

    Daniel Varuolo of North Haven, an usher at St. Andrew’s Catholic Church in Sag Harbor who worked at his nephew’s Emporium Hardware in Sag Harbor, died at home on Monday. He was 88 and had been an active member of the Knights of Columbus and the American Legion’s Chelberg and Battle Post 388 in Sag Harbor.

    With his wife, Rosetta, Mr. Varuolo moved to North Haven in 1985 and built a retirement house on Cove’s End Lane. Mrs. Varuolo survives.

   Anne M. Black Koehler of East Hampton, a maternity nurse at Southampton Hospital for 24 years, died on Nov. 24 at St. Francis Hospital in Roslyn of complications following heart surgery. She was 78.

    Many people who recognized her from the hospital would stop her on the street or in a store to introduce her to their children whom she had helped deliver, her family said. “People always told us what a special nurse she was to them.”