Leonard R. Mott, a lifelong resident of East Hampton who lived on Austin Road for the last 40 years, died on April 15 at Southampton Hospital.

Mr. Mott was a lover of the outdoors, of reading, and of sports, said his daughter, MaryBeth Fisher of East Hampton, and a big fan of the New York teams: the Giants, the Knicks, the Rangers, and the once-Brooklyn, now Los Angeles, Dodgers. He retired from long service to the Town of Riverhead, where he was a sewage plant operator, in 1981.

Born in East Hampton on April 30, 1926, to George Mott and the former Bessie Miller, Mr. Mott grew up here and graduated from East Hampton High School. In his youth, he worked as a landscaper, carpenter, and fisherman, said his daughter. But soon after graduation, he was in the Army, stationed in the Philippines during World War II.

Mr. Mott married Dorothy E. Miller on May 14, 1949. She died in 2006.

He was a member of the American Legion, the Veterans of Foreign Wars, and the Civil Service Employees Association, now the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees, Local 1000.

In addition to Ms. Fisher, Mr. Mott leaves two other daughters and a son. They are Cathy Byers of Queens, Lynn Overton of East Hampton, and Gary Mott of Riverhead. He is also survived by 10 grandchildren, 13 great-grandchildren, and 19 nieces and nephews. His four siblings all predeceased him.

Visiting hours took place on April 18 at the Yardley and Pino Funeral Home in East Hampton. A graveside service was held the following day at Green River Cemetery in Springs, Stuart Nassauer, the American Legion chaplain, presiding. Mr. Mott was buried next to his wife of 57 years.

The family has suggested memorial contributions to the East Hampton Village Ambulance Association, 1 Cedar Street, East Hampton 11937, or American Legion Post 419, 15 Montauk Highway, Amagansett 11930.

Mary Klassa, who lived in Montauk as a girl and attended South Fork schools, died on April 3 at Garden City Hospital in Michigan following a stroke. She was 64.

She was born Mary Alice McGuire on June 29, 1949, at Southampton Hospital, to William McGuire and the former Eva Holmes.

After her father’s death in 1953, she and her sister Jeannette went to live with an aunt and uncle, Kathryn and James McDonald. She attended St. Therese of Lisieux Catholic Church’s Little Flower Day School in Montauk, then Sacred Heart Academy in Sag Harbor, from which she graduated in 1967.

She worked in several places in Montauk as a young woman, including John’s Drive-In and the Montauk I.G.A.

Her first marriage was to Dennis Pickle. After they divorced, she moved to Michigan in 1973, staying with friends. She went to work at Holcroft, an industrial equipment manufacturer, and met Ralph Klassa, whom she married. Mr. Klassa died in 2003.

Her sister Jeannette Rucano of East Hampton, who is known as Nettie, visited her many times over the years. They would spend hours talking about their memories of growing up in Montauk, said Ms. Rucano. She said her sister liked to knit and crochet in her spare time.

A brother, William McGuire, and a sister, Rose Marie, died before her, as did the McDonalds. In addition to Ms. Rucano, several nieces and nephews survive. She was very close to her niece Kathleen Rucano of East Hampton and her nephews Peter Rucano Jr. of Montauk and Douglas Rucano of Sound Beach. She had no children of her own.

She was cremated, as was her husband. No service has been announced.

Marie Edwards Burkhardt, who was the last of her generation of Amagansett Edwardses, died on May 7 of pneumonia at Sentara Princess Anne Hospital in Virginia Beach. She was 99.

Mrs. Edwards came from a family that was among the first colonists to arrive in what would become East Hampton Town. Her father, Herbert N. Edwards, who was born in 1870, was a fisherman and whaler who took part in the last whale chases here and was East Hampton Town supervisor for two terms in the 1920s and ’30s.

Marie Udell Edwards was born at home in Amagansett on March 2, 1915. Her mother, the former Mary Anna Udell, was from an East Marion family. She went to the Amagansett grade school and East Hampton High School, then graduated in 1935 from Cedar Crest College in Allentown, Pa., where she had been head of her class and also served as her graduating class’s president until her death.

She returned to Long Island, becoming a teacher in the Westhampton Beach public school. Later, she taught middle school in Maryland. Throughout her life, a house on Amagansett’s Main Street was her summer home, and the family kept a camp on the beach at Gardiner’s Bay.

She met a Navy midshipman, John Burkhardt, who would become her husband, when his ship was anchored off Three Mile Harbor in 1936. They married about four years later at the Bremerton Navy Yard in Washington State.

The couple moved around the country during Mr. Burkhardt’s naval career. She volunteered at military hospitals, for the Navy-Marine Corps Relief Society, for various church organizations, and as a Girl Scout leader.

Once Mr. Burkhardt retired from the Navy, they called Mundelein, Ill., home and stayed there 30 years until they moved to Virginia Beach in 1997.

Her siblings, Elizabeth E. Davis, Lillian E. Hostetter, Herbert N. Edwards Jr., and Marshall Edwards, and a grandson died before her. She is survived by her sons John Burkhardt III of Mundelein and Philip E. Burkhardt of Ridgefield, Conn., and a daughter, Mary Thrush of Virginia Beach, as well as five grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren.

Mrs. Burkhardt’s family said that she was a true optimist, someone who always listened to others and provided solid advice. “She was a great, caring mother, a constant reader, a true friend to many, always looking for the best in people and had a smile for everyone,” they said.

A memorial for her will be held at the Atlantic Shores Retirement Community in Virginia Beach on June 7 at 2 p.m. The Rev. Jeremy Jinkins of Grace Covenant Presbyterian Church is expected to officiate.

Donations have been suggested to the Amagansett Presbyterian Church, where she attended services, at P.O. Box 764, Amagansett 11930.

Mary Johnston Evans, who had a successful career in business and was once honored as one of the 200 top corporate women by BusinessWeek magazine, died of complications of Alzheimer’s disease on May 5 at the Greens at Cannondale, an assisted-living facility in Wilton, Conn. She was 84 and had lived in East Hampton and New York City.

Remembered as smart, witty, and charming, Mrs. Evans was said to be one of the most successful women of her generation, one who inspired many women to take leadership positions in their communities and in business.

She served as vice chairwoman of the board of Amtrak, and on the boards of Delta Air Lines, Household International, Saint-Gobain Corporation, Sunoco, Baxter International, Dun & Bradstreet, Moody’s, and Scudder, Stevens, and Clark.

In her civic career, she served on the boards of Carnegie Hall, the Major Gifts Committee of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Brick Presbyterian Church in Manhattan, St. Anthony’s Hospital, New York-Presbyterian Hospital, United Appeal, and the Y.W.C.A. in Okalahoma.

She was born Mary Catherine Johnston on Feb. 28, 1930, in Shawnee, Okla. She went to high school in Oklahoma City and attended Wellesley College and the University of Oklahoma. Her first husband, Ben Head, died before her.

She was a member of the Conference Board, an international business association, and during a meeting in Washington, D.C., in 1981, she met James H. Evans, who was also a member of the board. They were married in 1984. He survives her.

Among the honors she received, she was inducted into the Okalahoma Hall of Fame and received the Distinguished Service Award at the University of Oklahoma, the Liberty Bell Law Day Award for outstanding contributions to the legal profession by a layperson, and the Directors’ Choice Award of the National Women’s Economic Alliance.

She had many firsts that she was proud of, including being the first woman to address the Judicial Conference of the Tenth U.S. Circuit Court and the first woman to address the Economic Club of Oklahoma City. She was also the president of the Junior League in Okalahoma City. In New York City, she was a member of the Colony Club.

In East Hampton, where she and Mr. Evans owned a house for 25 years, she belonged to the Maidstone Club and the Garden Club of East Hampton.

She was a lifelong fan of the New York Yankees and the University of Oklahoma Sooners.

In addition to her husband of 30 years, Mrs. Evans is survived by three children from her first marriage, Marcy Head Benson and Eric Talbot Head, both of Denver, and Paul Johnston Head of Okalahoma City. A brother, Paul Ross Johnston of Vail, Colo., and two stepchildren, Carol Evans Jepperson of Salt Lake City and Joan Evans Madsen of Maui, Hawaii, also survive, as do two grandchildren.

A service will be held at the Brick Presbyterian Church, on the corner of 91st Street and Park Avenue, tomorrow at 3 p.m.

Donations in her name have been suggested to the New York City Chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association, 360 Lexington Avenue, New York City 10017, or the University of Colorado Alzheimer’s Research Fund, 13001 East 17th Place, MS-A065, Aurora, Colo. 80045.

Eileen M. Buquicchio, who was 88, died at home on Middle Highway in  East Hampton on Friday. She had suffered a series of strokes over the last seven months and died in her sleep.

Mrs. Buquicchio was a homemaker, devoted to her children and grandchildren. “She was devoted to her faith and drew strength from that faith to face life’s challenges,” Gail Buquicchio, her daughter-in-law, said in a eulogy. “As a family we came to rely on her strength, her steadfastness, her resilience, and her optimism.”

“She was always telling a joke — always making us laugh,” Maryann Buquicchio, her daughter, said. At family gatherings, she loved a good game of poker, and her opponents could always count on losing a bit of money.

Born Eileen Stack on Dec. 13, 1925, in Manhattan, she was one of eight children of Daniel Stack and the former Mary Sheehy, Irish immigrants. She grew up in a small apartment on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, where life was lively, as one might imagine with 10 people. “There was music and laughter and a strong bond and a connection to her Irish clan,” Gail Buquicchio said.

She and Daniel Buquicchio were married on Sept. 4, 1949, after meeting at Rockaway Beach on a summer afternoon. The couple spent their honeymoon traveling across the country and to Mexico. They raised five children in Lindenhurst, where they lived for 33 years and where Mrs. Buquicchio was an active member of Our Lady of Perpetual Help Catholic Church. They moved to East Hampton in 1988. Mr. Buquicchio died in May 1997, after 48 years of marriage.

Mrs. Buquicchio is survived by her children: Vincent Buquicchio of East Hampton, Ellen D’Errico of West Haven, Conn., Dr. Daniel Buquicchio of Seattle, Thomas Buquicchio of Montauk, and Maryann Buquicchio of East Hampton. Four grandchildren also survive, as does a sister, MaryEllen Zerillo of Syracuse, N.Y.

Visiting hours were at the Yardley and Pino Funeral Home in East Hampton on Tuesday. A Mass was offered at Most Holy Trinity Catholic Church in East Hampton, of which she was a member, yesterday morning, followed by burial at the church cemetery.

Raymond James Costello Jr., a lifelong carpenter and Navy veteran, died surrounded by family on April 15 at the Pleasant Bay Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Brewster, Mass., after a long illness. He was 78.

Mr. Costello had a house on Fort Pond Bay in Montauk from 1968 to 1981. It was a summer home at first, but in 1977, his family moved there full time from Dobbs Ferry, N.Y. They eventually left the area for Acton, Mass., and moved to Cape Cod in 1990.

Mr. Costello worked as a construction supervisor for Kimco Realty. He was also a proud veteran, having served as a member of the Navy Construction Battalion, the Seabees, in Antarctica among other locations.

In Dobbs Ferry, he was a volunteer firefighter.

Mr. Costello was born in Tarrytown, N.Y., on Sept. 14, 1935, to Raymond Costello and the former Kathleen Hourihan. He graduated from Stepinac High School and attended Westchester Community College.

In 1959, he married Kathryn Williams, with whom he raised six children.

In addition to his wife, Mr. Costello is survived by his children, Raymond Costello of Holliston, Mass., William Costello of Wainscott, Maura Mirras of Montauk, James Costello of Bristol, Conn., Kerry Prescott of Harwich, Mass., and Jennifer Fisher of Reston, Va. He was very proud of his 16 grandchildren, his family said. Also surviving are a brother, Kevin Costello of Dobbs Ferry, many nieces and nephews, and his aunt, Josephine Hourihan of Somerville, Mass., with whom he was close.

His family has suggested donations to the Dobbs Ferry Fire Department, Ogden House Committee, P.O. Box 95, Dobbs Ferry 10522.

According to family legend, Mary Laura Bistrian was born on the kitchen table in the Cozzen’s house on Cozzen’s Lane in Amagansett. It was June 14, 1919, in the days when children were born at home.

She was the youngest of five children born to Mark Bertram Ryan Sr. and the former Edith Lula Perry, and was, through her father, a direct descendant of Anne Hutchinson, an early proponent of religious freedom and women’s rights in the colonial era, her family said.

Rather than being named Mary Almy after her paternal grandmother, who was the fourth generation with that name, she was also named for her maternal grandmother. However, “she was usually not known by her given name but by a number of nicknames, initially Babe, because she was the baby of the family, later Mam by her many close friends, but known most affectionately as “Mimi to her grandchildren and great grandchildren, an appellation conferred upon her by her first of 15 grandchildren, Lynn Dale.”

Her father was the Long Island Rail Road’s assistant station master at Amagansett during World War II when German saboteurs landed in the hamlet and was later the station master at Center Moriches. Her mother had been a schoolteacher in Vermont until the family moved to Long Island at the beginning of the last century. The couple’s youngest child was the only one born on eastern Long Island.

She graduated from East Hampton High School.

She was married to Patrick (Peter)  Bistrian at the Amagansett Presbyterian Church by the Rev. Clarence B. Scoville on June 26, 1937, and raised six children with him at their house on Abraham’s Landing Road in Amagansett. He died in 2003.

She died at home last Thursday at the age of 94.

Her husband and his parents had initially been potato farmers, and Mrs. Bistrian took on the role of family matriarch with great devotion — “cooking, mending, tending to all the ills and education of her children, while being a supportive wife to a very hard-working and industrious mate,” her family wrote. She continued that role as the family expanded its business ventures into construction and real estate development. She “softened the edges of our family life,” her children wrote.

“She was incredibly thoughtful and generous with her time and resources,” with both her growing family and her wide circle of friends, who often sought her wise and empathetic advice, her family said. “Although she had a sign in her kitchen stating there was no free lunch, she provided numerous delicious and nutritious meals” to her own friends, friends of friends, and her children’s friends.

Early in her life, along with her mother, she was a member of the Order of the Eastern Star. Her father was a high-degree Mason.

She enjoyed golf, swimming, shopping for her friends and extended family, and organizing and taking part in family gatherings small and large. “She had a long life and a good one,” her family wrote,” and was “a treasure to her many friends and large family. She will be deeply missed.”

Mrs. Bistrian is survived by her six children, born over 22 years, Patrick Bistrian Jr. of Amagansett, Dr. Bruce Ryan Bistrian of Ipswich, Mass., Barry Albert Bistrian of East Hampton, Bonnie Mae Krupinski of East Hampton, Barbara Gail Borg of Amagansett, and Betsy Lou Avallone of Springs. Also surviving are 15 grandchildren, 28 great grandchildren, and 6 great-great grandchildren. 

Her siblings, Dorothy Almy Frye, Perry Ryan, Mark Betram Ryan Jr., and Albert Truax Ryan, all died before her.

A funeral was held at the Amagansett Presbyterian Church on Saturday, followed by burial at Cedar Lawn Cemetery in East Hampton.

Her family has suggested donations to the Scoville Hall Rebuilding Fund at Amagansett Presbyterian Church, P.O. Box 764, Amagansett 11930, to the Amagansett Fire Department Ambulance Company, P.O. Box 911, Amagansett, or to the Amagansett Village Improvement Society, P.O. Box 611, Amagansett.

Melville Straus, a longtime champion of Guild Hall as its chairman and a distinguished and successful businessman, died after a long illness with brain cancer on Thursday in New York City. Mr. Straus, who was known as Mickey, was 75.

For many years, he and his wife, Leila, spent summers and weekends in a house filled with paintings by local artists, both great and unknown, set on Hook Pond in East Hampton. He joined Guild Hall’s board in 1992 and became chairman three years later. The founder and chief programmer of the cultural center’s Hamptons Institute, he led Guild Hall’s $14 million capital campaign for the renovations of its building and grounds, which were completed in 2009.

“Since my first meeting with Mickey Straus 15 years ago, he was my best friend,” Ruth Appelhof, Guild Hall’s director, said on Monday. “He was mentor, sage, magician, pied piper, and visionary. He made Guild Hall the vibrant institution it is today.”

Barbara Jo Howard, the director of marketing and public relations, recalled his “joyful love of the arts, a kind and sincerely generous heart, and a genuine respect for all people. He was a very rare and special person.”

After graduating from Dartmouth College he served as a lieutenant in the U.S. Navy then attended Harvard University, where he received an M.B.A. in 1967 and was a Baker Scholar. He then went to work as a securities analyst at Donaldson, Lufkin and Jenrette. Two years later he took a position at Standard & Poor’s InterCapital, where he was a vice president and director of research. In 1972, he became a member of its board of directors and executive committee. The following year he joined Weiss, Peck, and Greer as member of its executive committee and head of its small cap growth products and management. In 1998, he went out on his own to form Straus Asset Management, where he was managing principal.

In addition to Guild Hall, he served as a board or committee member of many other arts institutions including the American Ballet Theatre, the Museum of Modern Art, Independent Curators, Inc., and American Friends of the Royal Ballet School. He was also a member of the Dartmouth President’s Leadership Council and a member of the Board of Visitors at the John Sloan Dickey Center. He served previously on the Board of Overseers of the Hopkins Center/Hood Museum at Dartmouth and the Dartmouth Alumni Council.

After he was diagnosed and treated for a brain tumor in September of 2012, he curtailed some of his activities but remained active with work, travel, and his involvement in the arts. He stepped down as chairman of Guild Hall last year, announcing his retirement at that year’s Academy of the Arts event, held annually in March in New York City.

Born in Pittsburgh on March 16, 1939, to Milton and Laura Kraus Straus, he grew up in Tucson and decided to follow a friend east to Dartmouth College. Having already been given 50 shares of Montgomery Ward stock and having followed a proxy fight at the company, he knew from the beginning he wanted to study finance and then in graduate school what became known as leveraged buyouts. “It was still so early in the game, we didn’t know what to call it,” he told The Star last year.

He said “the great thing about finance and the stock market is that every day you have to react to something new that has happened and is relevant to what you are doing.” He added that after 40 years, he was never bored.

The Strauses bought their house in East Hampton 25 years ago after renting for a decade before that. He had not intended to become involved in the community, but after hosting a dinner for a Willem de Kooning exhibition in 1981 he was hooked. He said in addition to bringing Guild Hall’s capital campaign within $200,000 of his goal, he was particularly proud of the endowment he had established for the institution, the Hamptons Institute, and its increased efforts to bring more of the community into the institution.

When he was not attending events at Guild Hall, one of his favorite things to do here, no matter the time of year, was to enjoy the view from his back deck, overlooking the pool and the panoramic view of Hook Pond and the Maidstone Club.

He leaves behind his wife, three children, Scott Straus of Madison, Wisc., Alexandra Straus of Los Angeles, and Ben Straus of New York City, and two grandchildren. Two sisters, Margie Stein of San Diego and Mary Straus of Tuscon, and a brother, John Straus of Denver, also survive him.

A private memorial service will be held on today.

A memorial service for Otis G. Pike, who represented the First Congressional District from 1960 to 1978 and died on Jan. 20, will be held at the First Congregational Church of Riverhead, at 103 First Street, on May 24 at 10:30 a.m.

Visiting hours will be next Thursday from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Reginald H. Tuthill Funeral Home, 406 East Main Street in Riverhead, and on Friday, May 23, from 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 p.m. The public will be welcomed.

Robert Willis Espach, who was an attorney for more than 50 years, died of complications of cancer at Stony Brook University Hospital on Saturday. He was 84.

Mr. Espach, who lived in Sag Harbor Village for 57 years, was in general practice, mostly family and real estate law. He remained at work through his illness.

He moved to Sag Harbor in 1957, after two years in the Army, which involved serving at the Army’s European headquarters in Heidelberg, Germany. Mr. Espach started his law practice in Southampton but later opened an office as a single practitioner in Sag Harbor, where, among other clients, he represented the Sag Harbor School District in connection with its first bond issue.

After several years, he became a partner with Bryan Hamlin and Ben Michael in Bridgehampton, where he practiced until 1977. He then returned to working as a sole practitioner in Sag Harbor, finally closing his office on 25 Washington Street in 1999 and joining with Stephen A. Grossman and Associates in an “of counsel” capacity.

A lifelong Long Islander, Mr. Espach was born in Floral Park on April 1, 1930, the first child of Edgar W. Espach and Helen Petrat Espach. A graduate of Sewanhaka High School in Floral Park, he earned a bachelor’s degree at Hofstra University in 1952 and a law degree at Brooklyn Law School in 1955.

Mr. Espach wed Dorothy M. Collins in 1954. They were married for 54 years, until her death in 2008. They had one son, Steven R. Espach, who survives.

A Presbyterian, he was christened by his grandfather the Rev. Augustus C. Espach at St. Paul’s German Presbyterian Church in Elmont, the church in which he would later be married.

He served as a deacon, trustee, and elder at the Old Whalers Church in Sag Harbor, and was the church school superintendent and clerk of Session for many years. He also served as a trustee of the Presbytery of Long Island, president of its trustees, and as the trustees’ recording clerk for more than 30 years.

Mr. Espach was a member of the Sag Harbor Lions Club for roughly 50 years, serving as secretary and treasurer for much of that time. He was president of the club for a year and led many committees, including one to organize and secure tax exemption for the Sag Harbor Lions Club Charitable Trust. After his time as president, he continued to serve as secretary or treasurer of the club, and finally as secretary treasurer.

He was director and a trustee of the Sag Harbor Historical Society, as well as trustee and secretary of the Sag Harbor Whaling and Historical Museum. For several years he was a secretary of the Masons’ Wamponamon Lodge in Sag Harbor. A longtime member of the Bridgehampton Club, he was also a member of the New York State and Suffolk County Bar Associations.

Visiting hours were yesterday. A funeral will be held today at the Old Whalers Church at 11 a.m. Mr. Espach’s ashes will be buried at Oakland Cemetery in Sag Harbor tomorrow, at a time to be announced at the funeral.

His family has suggested memorial donations to the Old Whalers Church, P.O. Box 1241, Sag Harbor 11963, the Sag Harbor Lions Club Charitable Trust, P.O. Box 158, Sag Harbor, or the Alzheimer’s Foundation of America, 322 Eighth Avenue, Seventh Floor, New York City 10001.