Obituaries

Vernal Harold Lafoe, a former resident of East Hampton, died of cancer on Sept. 17 at the Hospice of Citrus County in Lecanto, Fla. He was 88.

One of six children, Mr. Lafoe was born on June 7, 1926, in Brownington, a small town in northern Vermont, to Harold and Pearl Lafoe. In 1944, at the age of 18, he enlisted in the Navy and served with the Seabees, the Navy construction battalion, in the South Pacific.

William G. Abel, East Hampton’s pre-eminent surgeon as well as the chief of surgery at Southampton Hospital for many years, died on Aug. 15 at his home on Baiting Hollow Road here. He was 92.

Annette MacNiven, a world-class mountain-biker who competed in Xterra championships in Hawaii, California, Colorado, and Utah, and who taught swimming to I-Tri girls and members of the Hurricanes youth swim team at the Y.M.C.A. East Hampton RECenter, died on Sept. 16 at Southampton Hospital, where she was on life support. She was 56.

Her husband, Tom, said his wife of 30 years had “a strong will, and a huge heart, both physically and emotionally. Her heart was the last thing to stop.”

Anthony Mammano, who had his own business making custom cabinetry and doing glasswork, died at Southampton Hospital after a short illness. He was 63 and had recently had several strokes and pneumonia.

Mr. Mammano, who was known as Tony, was a member of the Living Water Full Gospel Church in Wainscott, where he volunteered to help run the food pantry. He also volunteered his time for fund-raisers for the East Hampton Food Pantry and for the Clamshell Foundation here.

Barbara Osborn Babinski Meyer, a Wainscott resident whose roots go back to John Osborn, one of the first settlers of the hamlet, died at home surrounded by her family on Aug. 31 after a brief illness. 

Mrs. Babinski Meyer is in the 10th generation of Osborns who live in the Town of East Hampton. John Osborn, the son of Thomas Osborne, who followed Lion Gardiner here in 1670, dropped the last letter of his surname, according to Hilary Osborn Malecki, the family historian. Twelve generations later, his descendants still live in Wainscott.

Emmett Clarence Bennett, a lifetime resident of Springs and Wainscott, died of Huntington’s disease at the Long Island State Veterans Home in Stony Brook on Sept. 16. He was 67 and had been ill for years.

Mr. Bennett graduated from East Hampton High School with the class of 1964 and joined the Air Force two years later, serving as a mechanic for about four years. His roots here went way back. He was born at Southampton Hospital on Oct. 26, 1946, to Clarence Bennett and the former Clara Payne; he was related to the Lester family as well.

Harry Lee Hinson, an interior designer who founded Hinson & Company, a leading wallpaper, textile, and lighting company, died on Sept. 4 at New York-Presbyterian/Columbia Hospital in Manhattan. He was 76.

A memorial service celebrating the life of James H. Schneider, who worked for more than 30 years with the University of Michigan’s sports information department, retiring as a public and media relations director in 2008 because of ill health, is to be held at the East Hampton Presbyterian Church on Oct. 6 at 1:30 p.m.

Rich Schneider, his younger brother, said the service will be followed by a reception at the Session House. James Schneder died in Ann Arbor on July 22 at the age of 63 as the result of congestive heart failure.

Robert E. Kalbacher, the founder of Kalbacher’s Auto in Springs, died on July 19 at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City. He was 82. The cause of death was congestive heart failure. He had been in ill health for a few years, his family said.

Mr. Kalbacher, known as Bob, started his auto repair business in 1964 and expanded it to include storage in 1981. Kalbacher’s Auto, which specializes in imported cars, is now run by his son Robert Kalbacher of East Hampton.

Andrea Kathleen Stein, who spent summers in Montauk throughout her life, died on Friday in Rohnert Park, Calif. She was 52 and had cancer for the past six years.

In the last entry of her day book, Ernestine Lassaw wrote, “At 101 I believe I have had a magic life.” Ms. Lassaw, who lived full time in Springs for half of her long life, died at Southampton Hospital on Aug. 15.

“As a summation of one’s life this is a happy and satisfied view to inhabit,” her daughter, Denise Elaine Lassaw, said, noting that “this way of looking at one’s self was not something that arrived in old age, which she never acknowledged, but rather just the way her mind worked throughout her life. She knew how to flow.”

Visiting hours for Annette MacNiven will be held on Monday from 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 p.m. at Yardley and Pino Funeral Home in East Hampton. Ms. MacNiven, a world-class mountain-biker, and a runner and swimming instructor, died on Tuesday at Southampton Hospital, where she had been on life support. She was 56. 

A celebration of her life is to be held at her house at 7 Knoll Lane in Wainscott on Sept. 27. 

Ilie Wacs, a celebrated coat designer and part-time Wainscott Main Street resident, died on Sept. 7 at home in Manhattan. The cause was cancer, his publicist, Susan Arpin, said. He was 86.

From the late 1960s to the 1980s, the women’s coats and suits he designed were frequently seen in The New York Times, Women’s Wear Daily, Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, and other fashion magazines.

Joan Marie Aldrich, who was known as Mimi and with her husband had owned several Sag Harbor businesses, died on Sept. 8 at Scott White Hospital in Temple, Tex., of complications from diabetes. She was 81, and had been ill for some time. Her three children and a number of her grandchildren and great-grandchildren were with her at the time of her death, her family said.

Milton M. George, a former commercial fisherman who lived in Amagansett and East Hampton, died on Sept. 9 surrounded by loved ones at his son’s house in Noyac, where he had lived for the past year. He was 88 and had several ailments, including colon cancer and heart problems, his daughter-in-law Susan George said.

Richard B. Hammer, a Springs summer and weekend resident since 1971, died of cancer on Aug. 22 at his retirement home in Naples, Fla. He was 79, and had been diagnosed not long before.

Born on Feb. 26, 1935, Mr. Hammer grew up on Chicago’s South Side, graduating from Navy Pier High School there and then from the University of Illinois Urbana-Cambria, with a B.S. in marketing.

Stephen L. Marley Jr. didn’t just teach history, he was a keeper of it. Mr. Marley, an East Hampton High School teacher for 32 years, also coached the school’s golf and winning junior varsity basketball teams in the 1960s and he played on and managed a number of men’s slow-pitch softball teams over 30 years, keeping their score books.

Even years later, if anyone had a question about a game’s outcome, they would call him, his wife, Corinne Marro Marley said.

Anneliese Schieferstein, who lived on Rolling Woods Court in Wainscott for about 25 years, died there last Thursday, five days shy of her 90th birthday. She had been in declining health for some time and in hospice care for about two weeks, said her son, Ernest George Schieferstein Jr.

    A joint memorial service for Dorothy and Walter Bennett of Cross Highway, Amagansett, will be held at Oak Grove Cemetery in Amagansett at 1 p.m. on Sept. 20. Mr. Bennett died on March 31 of prostate cancer. He was 83. Mrs. Bennett died in 2008. The Bennetts ran Brent’s Store in Amagansett for many years. Mr. Bennett was also a commercial fisherman.

Christine D. Barnes, who, with her husband of 61 years, made Amagansett her summer home for many years, died at home there on Aug. 20. Her family said her death was due to cardiopulmonary arrest and unexpected. Known as Chris, Mrs. Barnes, a physical education teacher in Highland, N.Y., for almost 40 years, was 86.

Douglas Mulaire, an artist, educator, and fishing and gardening enthusiast, died of pancreatic cancer on Monday at home in East Hampton. He was 65.

A professor of photography at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York, he lived in Brooklyn as well as East Hampton. He “loved the light and beauty of the East End,” his wife, Susan Taylor, wrote.

George Tilghman, who was known as Fletcher and had owned his own upholstery business, Fletcher’s Interiors, in East Hampton, died on Aug. 4 at Peninsula Regional Medical Center in Salisbury, Md., after a lengthy illness. He was 75 and had experienced complications from diabetes, according to his wife, Judy Tilghman.

Irvin Choron, who was “bitten by the Montauk bug when he caught a record-breaking striper off the beach at Atlantic Terrace in the 1960s,” died on Aug. 31 at Greenwich Hospital in Greenwich, Conn. He was 86 and had been ill with pneumonia for a week.

Mr. Choron lived in Rye, N.Y., and had a second home on Old Montauk Highway in Montauk starting in the 1970s, “spending as much time there with his wife and family as possible, casting into the surf on the Hither Hills beaches,” his family said.

Joan A. Schellinger was many things — a wife, a mother, a grandmother, a friend, a volunteer — and will be remembered as a woman who cared deeply about her family, letting them know they were at the center of her life, they said.

A native of Bridgehampton who lived in Springs for many years, Mrs. Schellinger died on Aug. 30 at Southampton Hospital, surrounded by her family. She was 78 and had cancer.

Linda Sylvia Baker, who grew up in Montauk, died on Friday at her home in Cutchogue at the age of 55. She had suffered from back problems and diabetes, said her husband, Paul W. Baker.

Ms. Baker was an artist who created pencil drawings depicting nature scenes. She loved the water, particularly the ocean, her husband said, having grown up near it. Her family moved from Glen Cove to their Leisurama summer home when she was a teen, and she graduated from East Hampton High School in 1978. One of her first jobs was in the ticket booth for Montauk’s Viking Fleet.

Margaret Myers, who moved year-round to Maidstone Park in East Hampton about 30 years ago, died at her house on Mudford Avenue on Friday. She was 92 and had been in poor health for some time, her family said.

Much of Mrs. Myers’s life was focused around family and friends. Cooking for and entertaining guests were her joy. Coming from an Italian-American family in Queens, she never needed a cookbook to produce lasagna and other dishes, almost without effort. “She was hospitable; everyone was welcome,” said her daughter, Edna Myers of Mastic Beach.

Martha J. Wolford of Springs was found dead on Aug. 29 at her home on Old Stone Highway. According to her only survivor, a niece who came to East Hampton with her husband this week to settle her affairs, she had been dead for some time, possibly weeks, when police went to the house. A gardener had reported not seeing her for a while.

Mia Bella Zingarelli, the daughter of Noah Zingarelli and Francesca Buffo, died on Sept. 1 at Boston Children’s Hospital, “in her mother’s arms, her favorite place in the world,” her family wrote. She was 7.

Mia Bella was born with a rare metabolic disorder, pyruvate dehydrogenase deficiency, at Stony Brook University Hospital on Feb. 10, 2007. She spent the first two months of her life in the neonatal intensive care unit there before being transferred to Boston Children’s Hospital, where she was cared for by Dr. Gerard Berry, head of the pediatric metabolism program.

A celebration-of-life gathering will be held at the Bridgehampton Presbyterian Church at 11 a.m. on Saturday for Barbara Osborn Babinski Meyer, a lifelong Wainscott resident who died at home on Sunday. She was 89. An obituary will appear in a future issue.

Benjamin A. Havens, 69, a Springs bayman with fisherman forebears back to the 19th century, died at Northport Veterans Hospital on Saturday after a short illness. He was diagnosed with a progressive form of cancer less than two weeks ago.