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Daria Deshuk, Artist

Daria Deshuk, Artist

Oct. 4, 1956 - March 09, 2017
By
Star Staff

Daria Deshuk, an artist and presence on the South Fork art scene since the 1980s, died on March 9 in Bridgehampton. She was 60 years old.

Ms. Deshuk exhibited her artwork at Guild Hall, the New Jersey State Museum, and galleries in Southampton and elsewhere on the East End. She was an artist in residence in the Dominican Republic for a time and a member of the National Arts Club. In 2004, she moved to Bridgehampton with a partner, David Kushnir, a real estate investor who survives, and established a studio there, Deshuk Rivers Studio.

Ms. Deshuk was born in Brooklyn on Oct. 4, 1956, one of the five children of Sasha Deshuk and the former Sydell Polks. Her mother died of what was said to be a brain aneurysm when Ms. Deshuk was 7, which had a huge impact on the rest of her life and her artwork. She graduated from Springfield Gardens High School on Long Island.

According to Roxanne Robinson, a friend, Ms. Deshuk’s art “predates today’s media fascination with street culture and fashion,” and she would often photograph and then paint images of characters she saw in daily life in New York. “Her artwork evolved into a more metaphysical style, inspired by her spiritual path of healing the pain of the loss of her mother, often depicting herself and others as angels set among the natural beauty of eastern Long Island,” Ms. Robinson wrote.

Ms. Deshuk earned a bachelor of fine arts in painting at the Parsons School of Design in Manhattan in 1978. This was followed by a master’s, also in painting, at Hunter College. She was entrenched in the art scene of the East Village in the early 1980s, where she did performance art, sometimes becoming the subject of her own tableaus. She was a member of Performance Space 122 on First Avenue near St. Mark’s Place and also did performance art at the legendary Club 57.

When she was 22, Ms. Deshuk met the musician and renowned artist Larry Rivers and they lived together in Southampton and New York for 15 years, remaining best friends until his death in 2002. Their son, Sam Deshuk Rivers, who survives, lives in Maryland. “I want people to know how much my mother and father loved each other,” he said. Ms. Deshuk took her own life.

In addition to her son, she is survived by three sisters, Amy Friscia Holler and Claudia Deshuk, both of Manhattan, and Valerie Wechsler of Florida, and a brother, Alex Deshuk of Arizona. She is also survived by two of Mr. Rivers’s sons, Joseph Rivers and Steven Rivers. She was close to one of Mr. Rivers’s daughters, Gwynne Rivers, who lives in Maine, and according to Ms. Robinson, assumed a grandmotherly role for Ms. Rivers’s three children.

Ms. Deshuk’s mother was Jewish but converted to Russian Orthodoxy when she married Ms. Deshuk’s father. Because of that, there was a blessing at Holy Trinity Orthodox Church in East Meadow, a church her family had helped found, on Friday, and a service led by Rabbi Rafe Konikov at the Bellmore Funeral Home in East Meadow. A memorial gathering will be held at Guild Hall on April 22.

The family has suggested memorial donations to the Treatment Advocacy Center, treatmentadvocacycenter.org. Those wishing to write can send a note to the family at P.O. Box 2155, Bridgehampton 11932.

Ms. Deshuk had a large circle of friends whose lives, according to Ms. Robinson, she touched deeply. She was  a “welcoming force that drew them together for gatherings, dinners, art openings, and benefits,” as well as for bonfires on the beach in Bridgehampton. She was able to help people in ways that she could not help herself, Ms. Robinson said.

Karl W. Horlitz, 95

Karl W. Horlitz, 95

Nov. 6, 1921 - March 18, 2017
By
Star Staff

Karl William Horlitz died on Saturday at Southampton Hospital, to which he had been admitted after a fall at his East Hampton house. According to his son, Karl Steven Horlitz, his father, who was 95, was still “the same old spicy guy on Friday and died peacefully a week later.” The younger Mr. Horlitz recalled that “two weeks ago he was reciting the Gettysburg Address, which he knew by heart.”

He was born in Crossen an der Oder, then part of Germany, on Nov. 6, 1921. The town was renamed Krosno Odrzanskie at the end of World War II and is now part of Poland. When he was 3, he moved to the United States with his parents, Wilhelm  Frederick Horlitz and the former Anna Seidel, and two sisters who died before him. They were Hilda Harris of Alexandria, Va., and Angelica A. Pennecke of Valley Stream. The family settled in the Yorkville section of Manhattan.

Mr. Horlitz graduated from the Straubenmuller Textile High School in Manhattan and then took courses at Pratt Institute in manufacturing and engineering. He  received a New York State license as an engineer, and worked for many years as a plant manager for John Hassall Inc., manufacturers of specialty rivets and screws, based in Westbury. He retired in 1984.

On Dec. 25, 1942, he married Friedel Basler of Germany on her parents’ 25th wedding anniversary. The couple were accomplished skiers. Mr. Horlitz served in the  Army from 1944 to 1946, after which he and his wife moved to Queens Village. In 1981, they bought a house in East Hampton, becoming full-time residents. She died before him.

An active community member, Mr. Horlitz belonged to the American Legion, the East End Ski Club, the National Ski Patrol, the Appalachian Mountain Club, the Nature Conservancy, the East Hampton Trails Preservation Society, and the Settlers Landing Property Owners Association. He frequently wrote letters to editor of The East Hampton Star about politics and conservation. He also loved writing poetry and in August of 2015 was invited to read his poem “The Senior Center of East Hampton” at an East Hampton Town Board meeting.

Mr. Horlitz is survived by three children, Susan Friedel Vujnovich of Bayside, Queens, Janice Marie Stanley of Massapequa, and Karl Steven Horlitz of Concord, Mass. Five grandchildren and five great-grandchildren also survive, as do six nieces and nephews.

Visiting hours will be held at the Yardley and Pino Funeral Home in East Hampton on Monday from 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 p.m. A funeral service will take place at Incarnation Lutheran Church in Water Mill on Tuesday at 9:30 a.m., with burial to follow at Calverton National Cemetery. Memorial donations have been suggested to the Nature Conservancy, online at nature.org, or by mail to the Center for Conservation, P.O. Box 5125, East Hampton 11937.

Michael J. Hegarty

Michael J. Hegarty

May 27, 1939 - Jan. 29, 2017
By
Star Staff

Michael John Hegarty, a former president and chief executive officer of Flushing Savings Bank who had houses in Montauk and Glen Head, died on Jan. 29 at home in Glen Head. He was 77 and had Parkinson’s disease, his family said.

He had first come to Montauk in the 1970s as a certified public accountant for the Deep Sea Club. Because of a love of fishing, he and his wife took to the area right away, his family said, first staying with friends.

By the late 1970s he and his wife, the late Mary Ellen Hegarty, bought a house on North Farragut Road in Montauk. The place was always filled with family, friends, holiday parties, and amazing fishing stories, his daughter, Ellen McDonald of East Hampton, said.

Mr. Hegarty was born on May 27, 1939, in the Bronx to Michael John Hegarty and the former Katherine Costello. He attended Manhattan Prep high school.

His was a grassroots success story, Ms. McDonald said. As a boy he made deliveries for a dry-cleaner and later worked as a clerk at a Peter Reeves grocery store.

He sold hot dogs, ice cream, and beer at Yankee Stadium, was a night porter for The New York Daily News, and made deliveries for a Coca-Cola distributor. With savings from these jobs and others, he was able to pay his own way through Manhattan College. His first job after graduation was at Peat, Marwick, Mitchell, and Co. in New York City.

From the Deep Sea Club and Peat, Marwick, Mr. Hegarty moved on to EDO Corporation, a defense contractor in College Point, Queens, where he held posts including vice president of finance, corporate secretary, treasurer, and chairman of the audit committee. He went on to join Flushing Savings Bank, working as an executive vice president, corporate secretary, and chief operating officer before becoming its president and C.E.O. He retired in 2005.

He married the former Mary Ellen Duggan on Jan. 23, 1963. Ms. Hegarty died in 2015.

Mr. Hegarty spent six seasons as a Little League coach, and later was president of the Glen Head-Glenwood Landing Little League. He was a committee chairman of the Glenwood Landing Boy Scouts and was a president of the Boy Scouts of America’s Nassau County Chapter. He received the Scouts’ Theodore Roosevelt Award and its Silver Beaver Award, among the organization’s highest honors.

In addition to Ms. McDonald, he is survived by two sons, Michael Hegarty of Westbury and Brian Hegarty of Goldens Bridge, N.Y., and 10 grandchildren. Two brothers, William Hegarty of Troy, N.Y., and John Hegarty of Scarsdale, N.Y., survive as well.

He attended services at St. Therese of Lisieux Catholic Church in Montauk and St. Boniface Martyr Church in Sea Cliff, where a Mass for Mr. Hegarty was celebrated on Jan. 31. He was buried at Locust Valley Cemetery.

Memorial donations have been suggested to gofundme.com/savesullyslifeplease, for Sully Forbes, a 7-month-old boy with a rare cancer whose father, Frank Forbes, was a family friend who grew up in Montauk and Glen Head, or to the National Parkinson Foundation, 200 Southeast First Street, Suite 800, Miami 33131, also at parkinson.org.

Ms. McDonald said that her father’s many stories and one-liner jokes will never be forgotten.

S. McGraw-Silverstone

S. McGraw-Silverstone

Nov. 23, 1929 - March 13, 2017
By
Star Staff

Sally McGraw-Silverstone, a Montauk resident for three decades who was known as Pooch, died on March 13 at Stony Brook University Hospital after a short illness. She was 88 and had pneumonia. She was a longtime supporter of the Montauk Library, where a gathering in her honor will be held today from 2 to 4 p.m.

“She was the best companion I know,” said a niece, Dani Dolence of Tyler, Tex., adding that “there were too many best friends to mention,” her mother among them.

Ms. McGraw-Silverstone loved painting, and was an amateur watercolorist. She had taken piano lessons as a child, and continued to enjoy music. With her husband, she attended recitals at the library and outdoor summer jazz concerts. She was an avid reader as well and became an accomplished baker after moving to Montauk, tackling complicated pie and Christmas cookie recipes. She also enjoyed planning healthy meals to serve to others.

The youngest daughter of immigrant Serbian parents, Damian Prodnick and the former Anna Skaljac, she was born on Nov. 23, 1929, in Girard, Ohio. She attended Kent State University in Ohio and Hunter College in New York City, where she lived for two decades beginning in the 1960s.

Her niece said she had enjoyed being a working woman and got a job at NBC, becoming its director of communications, where she met some of its stars, such as Johnny Carson, and found herself able to go to such first-class restaurants as Le Pavillon. She met her husband, Bob Silverstone, who survives, while working in the city.

After she retired, the couple moved to Montauk, where she and her husband volunteered for several organizations, with the Friends of the Montauk Library at the top of the list. Ms. McGraw-Silverstone also volunteered at the Animal Rescue Fund of the Hamptons thrift shop. Her association with ARF had another impact, Ms. Dolence said. “Gradually the house filled with members of the feline persuasion.” 

Two previous marriages ended in divorce. Besides Mr. Silverstone, to whom she had been married for 35 years, Ms. McGaw-Silverstone is survived by three stepchildren, Sara Silverstone, David Silverstone, and James Silverstone. Four step-grandchildren also survive.

Ms. McGraw-Silverstone was cremated. Memorial contributions have been suggested to the Montauk Public Library, 871 Montauk Highway, Montauk11954, or the Animal Rescue Fund of the Hamptons, P.O. Box 901, Wainscott 11975.

Ken Robbins, Noted Photographer

Ken Robbins, Noted Photographer

Sept. 18, 1945 - March 09, 2017
By
Star Staff

Ken Robbins, a photographer who captured the landscape, wildlife, and people of the East End for four decades, died at home in Springs on March 9. He was 71 and had had diabetes for several years.

Mr. Robbins’s work developed over the years from black-and-white studio portraits to experiments in hand-tinting, which created a painterly quality. In recent years, he often manipulated images digitally to suggest the eerie stillness of paintings by Magritte and Hopper.

His landscapes and seascapes varied between relatively straightforward images whose power derived from dramatic lighting and turbulent skies and others that acquired a surreal quality through juxtaposition. Many incorporate the moon, with a brightness and clarity that contrast with an often darker setting. In one, a white egret takes flight against a darkening Accabonac Harbor with a sliver of moon overhead.

Mr. Robbins sometimes paired images to droll effect. In “Lunar Locator,” stars are configured into a large arrow that points to the moon. In “Leaf Pointer,” its companion piece, the same arrow points at a leaf hovering in the night sky. “Sunglasses,” in which the object’s shadow is distended, would be a dramatic still life in its own right, but the dual reflections of the sun in the lenses’ shadows adds another dimension. It also has a companion piece, “Moonglasses.”

While the landscape figures prominently in Mr. Robbins’s work, he also brought his sensibility to bear on still lifes, buildings, nudes, streetscapes, and even a crowded, bustling kitchen in Wiscasset, Me. In “Louse Pointillist,” pixilation brings a touch of Seurat to a view of a sailboat. His work was said to have been marked by restless inventiveness. In a review in The Star in 2006, Robert Long wrote, “Mr. Robbins has always been one to extend on traditional means.”

Kenneth Alan Robbins was born in Brooklyn on Sept. 18, 1945, to Joseph Robbins and the former Sadie Gonikman. He was raised in West Orange, N.J., and earned a B.A. from Cornell University. His first job was as an editor at Doubleday, the Manhattan publishing house, where he met his future wife, Maria Polushkin, who survives. Editing the work of several notable photographers led to his interest in the art.

The couple moved to East Hampton in the early 1970s and founded the Old Post Office Cinema, an art house movie theater on Newtown Lane. He launched his career as a photographer in earnest in a darkroom above the theater.

Over the years, his work was shown in galleries, such as the Pamela Williams Gallery here, in museums, such as the Heckscher Museum in Huntington, and monographs, including “100 Views of the Hamptons.” It also appeared on book jackets, record album covers, and in magazines. He also wrote and illustrated 23 children’s books. 

According to Kathryn Levy, a friend, “For many years, Ken and Maria Robbins were at the core of a vibrant group of artists, writers, and editors. His wide circle of friends looked forward each year to his irreverent Christmas poems, characteristically down-to-earth Christmas day gatherings — with the only decoration being one long candy cane — fascinating dinners, and lively Sunday volleyball games.”

He was a member of the board of directors of the East End Special Players and had volunteered to photograph its actors and create publicity materials.

In addition to his wife, he is survived by an aunt, Sheila Robbins of East Hampton and New York City. A memorial service will be held on April 17 at Ashawagh Hall in Springs.

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Correction: The original version of this obituary incorrectly described Kathryn Levy as a cousin of Mr. Robbins. She is a friend, not a cousin. 

David M. King, Fire Chief

David M. King, Fire Chief

Sept. 21, 1954 - Feb. 11, 2017
By
Star Staff

David M. King’s interest in firefighting began at a young age, following in the footsteps of his father, a charter member of the Springs Fire Department. He rose through the ranks to chief in 2015, and was known for putting the safety of the members first and providing the best service possible. He led by example, his colleagues said, participating in as many training exercises as he could to keep up with the latest techniques and promoting the importance of upgrading equipment.

His time as chief was cut short when he was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia in August 2015. He was in the midst of planning the department’s 50th anniversary celebration the following month when he became ill with cancer. It had meant a lot to him to be at the helm during the big anniversary. His brother, Clarence (Kelly) King III, a member of the department since 1966, drove the chief’s car in the parade in his honor.

Mr. King died on Feb. 11 at Weill Cornell Medical Center in Manhattan. He was 62. His family, friends, and fellow Springs firefighters remembered him as being “fiercely loyal, dedicated, committed, and generous.”

Born on Sept. 21, 1954, at Southampton Hospital to Clarence E. (Kelly) King Jr. and the former Emma Mae Miller, he grew up on School Street in Springs and attended the Springs School. He graduated from East Hampton High School in 1973 and went on to Herkimer County Community College upstate.

On Oct. 16, 1989, he married the former Lisa Reidy, who survives.

Mr. King was a partner at C.E. King and Sons, his family’s awning business. He served as president of the Northeast Canvas Products Association from 2006 to 2007.

He enjoyed hunting and exploring local history. A talented photographer, he occasionally shared his photos of Accabonac Harbor with The Star. He was a fan of the Mets, Rangers, and Giants.

The Springs Fire Department, however, was his number-one lifelong interest. In just one story from his long career, he and a fellow firefighter, Gene Tollman, saved an unconscious man from inside a burning house on Copeces Lane in 1979.

In addition to his wife and brother, he is survived by a sister, Deanna Tikkanen of Springs, and eight nieces and nephews.

His family suggested memorial contributions to the Springs Fire Department Scholarship Fund, 179 Fort Pond Boulevard, East Hampton 11937.

Barbara King

Barbara King

Feb. 18, 1955 - Feb. 18, 2017
By
Star Staff

Barbara Halliday King, a 12th-generation member of the Schellinger family, died at home on Widow Gavits Road in Sag Harbor on Feb. 18, her 62nd birthday. Her family did not provide a cause of death, but said that Ms. King had been ill for the past 18 months.

She changed and touched the lives of all who crossed her path, Ms. King’s family wrote. Whether she had known someone for years or just a day, she loved and cared for that person equally. Her smile was contagious, her family said.

For many years, Ms. King and her extended family gathered at her house for Easter and Christmas Eve dinner. In 2015, with her mother and siblings, she enjoyed a long weekend in Lancaster, Pa. Last year, the group reunited, that time in Narragansett, R.I.

She was born on Feb. 18, 1955, one of 11 children of Richard Halliday and the former Janet Schellinger. She grew up in Sag Harbor and graduated from Pierson High School in 1974. She later worked for Long Island Radio Broadcasting for 15 years.

Ms. King had a passion for the water and was always happy to be in her beach chair or on a boat. She also loved camping at locations near and far, such as Cedar Point State Park in East Hampton and campgrounds in South Carolina.

Ms. King is survived by her mother, who lives in Sag Harbor, her husband, Ronald Nettles of Sag Harbor, and her son, Christopher King of East Hampton. Six siblings also survive. They are Geraldine Moody of California, Robert Halliday of Medford, David Halliday of Aquebogue, Betsy Bono of Springs, Becky Steyert of Sag Harbor, and Michael Halliday, also of Sag Harbor. She leaves three stepchildren, Crystle Nettles Thomas, Rebecca Nettles, and Brandon Nettles, all of South Carolina, 16 nieces and nephews, and three stepgrandchildren. Her father and four siblings died before her.

A funeral service was held on Feb. 22 at the Yardley and Pino Funeral Home in Sag Harbor, followed by burial at Oak Grove Cemetery in Amagansett.

Ms. King’s family has suggested memorial contributions to the Animal Rescue Fund of the Hamptons, P.O. Box 901, Wainscott 11975, also at arfhamptons.org, or to the Sag Harbor Volunteer Ambulance Corps, P.O. 2725, Sag Harbor 11963.

David J. Buckley, Korean War Veteran

David J. Buckley, Korean War Veteran

March 31, 1931 - March 03, 2017
By
Star Staff

David Joseph Buckley, who settled in East Hampton after serving in the Air Force first at the Montauk station in 1948 and then in the Korean War from 1950 to 1952, died in Boynton Beach, Fla., on Friday. He died suddenly after having heart and other health problems over the past 10 years. He was 85.

Mr. Buckley had a long career in law enforcement in East Hampton and on Long Island, starting as a patrolman with the East Hampton Town Police Department in 1954. In 1960 he was asked to join the newly formed Suffolk County Police Department, where he worked as a detective and later with the District Attorney’s Squad, which promoted him to detective sergeant. After excelling on various exams and being promoted several times, he was named executive officer of the Suffolk County Police Academy and then deputy inspector in 1972.

In the mid-1970s, Chief Buckley led six different bureaus of the Suffolk County Police Department before being named chief of detectives and then, from 1975 to 1986, chief of headquarters. After retiring in 1986, he worked as a consultant to the Bureau of Municipal Police at the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services, in which role he helped create law enforcement standards for professional practices throughout the state.

David Buckley, the oldest of his family’s six children, was born on March 31, 1931, in Newport, R.I., to Francis P. Buckley and the former Margaret Furey. One brother, William F. Buckley of Narragansett, R.I., survives. Mr. Buckley graduated from De La Salle Academy in Newport in 1948 and shortly after joined the Air Force, serving first at the Montauk Air Force Station. While there he  met Elaine McGinnis, who had moved with her family to East Hampton after World War II. After he left the Air Force as a staff sergeant in 1952, he returned to East Hampton and in 1953 married Miss McGinnis, who survives.

After that, Mr. Buckley earned a B.A. in criminal justice at the C.W. Post College campus of Long Island University and also graduated from the 59th Session of the F.B.I. National Academy in Washington, D.C., in 1957.

Chief Buckley earned two distinguished-alumni awards from C.W. Post, one from the School of Health and Public Service and the other from the Department of Criminal Justice. He was a past president of the Metropolitan Chapter and New York State Chapter of the F.B.I. National Academy Associates as well as a past president of the Suffolk County Police Chiefs Association and its board of directors. He was a former member of the board of education at Most Holy Trinity School in East Hampton, the Criminal Justice Advisory Committee at C.W. Post, and the same committee at the New York Institute of Technology. He was also a past chairman of the Resolutions Committee of the New York State Association of Chiefs of Police, a former member of the East Hampton Village Design Review Board, and a volunteer at Meals on Wheels here in East Hampton.

After Chief Buckley retired, about 25 years ago, he and his wife began spending winters in Boynton Beach. He enjoyed playing golf and was a member of the South Fork Country Club, according to his daughter Kathleen Boak of New York City. He also read at least a book a week, she said, and loved spending time with his grandchildren. In addition to his widow, brother, and Ms. Boak, Chief Buckley is survived by his other daughters, Maureen Payne of Advance, N.C., Patricia Haggerty of Boca Raton, Fla., and Susan Scott of New Canaan, Conn. Mr. Buckley is also survived by 15 nieces and nephews and many great-nieces and great-nephews. His son, Lt. Christopher D. Buckley, a Navy Seahawk pilot and former East Hampton Town lifeguard, died in an accident at sea in 1997.

The family will receive visitors at the Yardley and Pino Funeral Home in East Hampton on Friday, March 17, from 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 p.m. On March 18 at Most Holy Trinity Catholic Church in East Hampton, Msgr. Donald Hanson will say a funeral Mass at 10:30 a.m. Chief Buckley was cremated and his ashes will be buried in the church cemetery.

Gail McManus, 63

Gail McManus, 63

July 14, 1953-March 1, 2017
By
Star Staff

Gail B. McManus, a former East Hampton resident who moved to Florida with her husband, James McManus, 22 years ago, died at home in Barefoot Bay, Fla., on March 1 from complications of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. She was 63, and had been ill for 15 years.

Although wheelchair-bound and on oxygen, Ms. McManus was creative around her house and enjoyed having friends over to dinner, her sister, Linda Palmer of East Hampton, said. Family and friends were important to her. She  loved Bingo, and would always take food to share with friends. 

Born in Yonkers, N.Y., on July 14, 1953, Ms. McManus was a daughter of Oliver A. Beckwith and the former Marie Caggana. She attended school in Yonkers. In 1969, she and  Russell William Field were married and settled in East Hampton. The marriage ended in divorce.  

She and Mr. McManus were married in 1985. The couple moved to Sharon Springs in upstate New York, where they lived until moving to Barefoot Bay. 

Besides her husband and sister, three daughters, Theresa Young and Patricia McManus of Barefoot Bay and Michelle Cadger of East Hampton, survive. A stepson, Barry McManus of Pennsylvania, and nine grandchildren also survive. Another sister, Carol Bradley, died before her.

Ms. McManus was cremated; no service was held. 

Jeffrey Edward Fisher

Jeffrey Edward Fisher

Aug. 1, 1941-Feb. 22, 2017
By
Star Staff

Jeffrey Edward Fisher of Warwick, N.Y., and Montauk, a history teacher for 30 years and a lifelong blood donor, died on Feb. 22 at St. Anthony Community Hospital in Warwick. A pulmonary embolism following hip surgery was the cause of death. He was 75.

Mr. Fisher taught history at the Ramapo Central School District in Suffern, in Rockland County. He was an adviser to its Forensic League, and he received a Valley Forge Freedom Award in recognition of his ability to impart the values of the United States to students. Mr. Fisher also designed and built a house in Wurtsboro, N.Y., where he and his wife lived for 40 years. They eventually sold it and built another. 

Jeffrey Edward Fisher was born in Queens, on Aug. 1, 1941, the son of Edward P. Fisher and the former Amelia Rovtar. He grew up in several places on Long Island, where the family had many relatives, and he moved with his family to New City, N.Y., at the age of 13. There, he graduated from Clarkstown High School, going on to graduate from Hartwick College in Oneonta, N.Y., with a master’s degree in English and another in economics. He also received a doctoral degree in political science and economics from the State University at New Paltz. 

Mr. Fisher’s family used to go to Montauk to fish when he was a boy. He was a lifeguard in Rockland County as a young man. After he and Karen Hollensworth, who survives, were married, in 1967, they spent their weekends in Montauk while still working as teachers. Once they retired, in 1999, they divided their time between Warwick and Montauk, where they loved spending time on their boat, which was kept at Gone Fishing Marina, and on the beach. According to his wife, Mr. Fisher had enjoyed teaching his grandchildren to ski, swim, and fish, and liked taking photographs of his family and the places they visited.

Mr. Fisher was an usher and longtime member of St. Therese of Lisieux Catholic Church in Montauk and a president of the Basha Kill Area Association, a state wildlife preserve near Wurtsboro. He and his wife traveled in Europe, South America, and the Caribbean, often with other St. Therese parishioners. As a lifelong blood donor, he was a member of the gallon club.

In addition to his wife, he is survived by their daughter, Liesel Daigle of Warwick, and three grandchildren. A sister, Jean Robinson, died before him. He is also survived by two aunts in Massapequa, Dorothy Fullert and Margie Monahan, and an aunt in Levittown, Louise Rovtar. 

In his memory, Mr. Fisher’s family suggested that friends and family donate blood to their local blood banks. A memorial Mass and a celebration of his life will take place at a future date in Warwick.