Visiting hours for Ellen Menaik Cox of Sag Harbor, who died at Southampton Hospital on Sunday, will be held tonight from 7 to 9 at the Yardley and Pino Funeral Home in Sag Harbor. Ms. Cox was 86. A service will be held at the funeral home tomorrow at 11 a.m. Burial will follow at Oakland Cemetery in Sag Harbor. An obituary will appear in a future issue.
Visiting hours for Laura Connolly, 59, of Harbor Street, East Hampton, who died at home on Monday, will be today from 2 to 4 p.m. and this evening from 7 to 9 at Yardley and Pino Funeral Home in East Hampton.
A funeral Mass will be said for her tomorrow at Most Holy Trinity Catholic Church in East Hampton at 10 a.m. Burial will be at the church cemetery on Cedar Street.
An obituary will appear in a future issue.
Walter Herlitschek, a resident of East Hampton for more than 40 years, died at home on Friday in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., just two weeks shy of his 92nd birthday. A man of many interests, he had lifelong passions for painting, travel, cooking, reading, gardening, music, collecting, and dogs. He remained curious and interested in new experiences despite his recent failing health.
Born in Brooklyn on Nov. 22, 1920, to Ludwig and Anna Herlitschek, he spent his youth in Manhattan and in the Catskills, where his family owned a hotel. He served in the Army during World War II, stationed in North Africa. There his artistic skills were put to good use in a unit dedicated solely to producing camouflage, such as on tanks and other equipment.
After the war, he attended Cooper Union in New York City, graduating in 1950 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree.
Art and painting was a common thread that ran through his career and pastime activities. He worked as an artist for the Batman and Superman comic books. After Warner Bros. purchased the DC Comics company, he moved full time to East Hampton.
For 25 years he owned and operated Pequod Emporium, an antiques and gift shop in Amagansett Square. There, Mr. Herlitschek enjoyed welcoming new and longtime customers and suggesting stylish ways for them to accessorize their homes.
Upon retiring, he continued to paint on a regular basis, up until a few weeks before he died. Many of the paintings reflected his natural surroundings, in East Hampton and in the mountains of North Carolina, where he moved in 2006, and Florida, his winter residence.
A sister, Lily Hiller Herlitschek, and a brother, Julius Herlitschek, died before him. Surviving are his partner of 20 years, Gerry Winterrowd, a brother, Robert Herlitschek of Boynton Beach, Fla., and two nephews and two nieces.
Donations in his name can be sent to Transylvania Regional Hospital Hospice, P.O. Box 2440, Brevard, N.C. 28712.
Nancy Anne Byrne of Woodcock Lane in East Hampton died on Nov. 1 while on vacation in Orlando, Fla. She was 41. Her familh did not provide the cause of death.
Born in Monmouth, N.J., on May 27, 1971, she was adopted and raised on Shelter Island by Bob and Anne DeStefano. She attended school on Shelter Island from kindergarten through her 1989 graduation. While in high school, she played on the field hockey and golf teams and was a class officer.
She was a strong golfer, her family said, and won the Gardiner’s Bay Country Club’s junior division in 1985 and was a runner-up four times. She continued to emulate her father, playing for fun, sinking long putts, and making incredibly long drives until the last few years of her life, they said.
After graduating from high school, she enrolled in Monmouth University in New Jersey, from which she received a bachelor’s degree in sociology in 1993. She subsequently attended — and was employed by — Manhattan College while working on her master’s degree.
At various points in her life, Ms. Byrne worked for her parents in the golf shop at the Gardiner’s Bay Country Club on Shelter Island. She also worked as a residence hall director at the State University at Stony Brook, where she was given awards for her work and dedication to the students. She also worked in publishing for two years and for the Shelter Island Police Department.
Martin Benjamin Rubenstein of East Hampton, a former taxicab operator and driver for New York State Assemblyman Perry B. Duryea Jr. and a local youth football, Little League, and biddy basketball coach, died at Southampton Hospital on Nov. 4. He was 86, and been diagnosed with metastasized bone cancer nine days earlier.
Mr. Rubenstein was a “legendary” poker player, his family said, whose poker partners included authors, police chiefs, politicians, and playwrights. Though he won most of the time, they said, even the losers loved playing with him — “he was just that kind of guy,” his family said.
He was married on May 15, 1956, to Lona Flam Rubenstein, who survives. The couple had three children, all of whom survive. They are Scott Rubenstein of East Hampton, Amy Ruhle of Montauk, and David Rubenstein of Laguna Beach, Calif. Two sisters died before him. Three grandsons and one granddaughter also survive.
Mr. Rubenstein became an East Hampton resident in 1969. A great athlete, he followed all the local sports games, including those of his grandchildren, and, his family said, was Bonac’s biggest fan.
As a child growing up in New York City, he shined shoes to make money so that he could go to the Polo Grounds. Once, he hitched a ride on the back of Babe Ruth’s car.
In 1968, with no junior high school team on the local lineup, Mr. Rubenstein initiated and coached a pickup football team that won all its games and had a number of future all-county players, including his two sons, on its roster. He also coached the Stars of the East Little League team, and, with his fellow coach Steve Marley, an East Hampton biddy league basketball team that competed in New Orleans after winning a regional championship — a surprise upset, as the team’s opponents, confident of their success, had already purchased tickets to New Orleans.
Mr. Rubenstein worked for Assemblyman Duryea from 1972 to 1976. Born at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City on May 18, 1926, the son of Samuel Rubenstein and the former Jennie Muirstein, he grew up in Harlem.
He left high school at the age of 17 to become a member of the Navy Seabees construction battalions. He served in 1944 and ’45. Stationed in Okinawa, he was in charge of a group of Japanese prisoners of war, and taught them how to play baseball.
After World War II, Mr. Rubenstein lived in Culver City, Calif., and worked as a grip in the movie business.
He was cremated. A wake was held at the Yardley and Pino Funeral Home in East Hampton on Friday. The family has suggested memorial donations to the Wounded Warrior Project, P.O. Box 758517, Topeka, Ks. 66675, or to the Animal Rescue Fund of the Hamptons, P.O. Box 901, Wainscott 11975.
Gary Persan, a commercial fisherman in Montauk for many years, died on Oct. 19 in Melbourne, Fla., following a head injury resulting from a fall at home. He was 63 and had suffered from chronic Lyme disease, which left him disabled in recent years.
His brother Robert Persan said he had been among the first Long Islanders diagnosed with the illness in the 1970s.
Born in Mineola on Dec. 14, 1949, to Edgar Persan and the former Betty Sanders, Mr. Persan attended school there and began to visit his family’s summer house in Montauk in the 1960s.
He started fishing on sport fishing boats there in the early 1970s, first for sharks, and later moved on to “pinhooking,” or commercial fishing with a rod and reel, his family said. He was often the most productive pinhooker in commercial striped bass fishing. His brother recalled a time in the mid-1980s when he caught a near record-size 82-pound striped bass near Montauk. “He just knew how to catch fish,” Robert Persan said. “A fish that some commercial fisherman would take hours to reel in, Gary would have in the boat in 15 minutes.”
He was also highly regarded in the commercial tuna industry, and would spend days in the Canyons off Montauk on his boat Stay Away.
Increasing competition and restrictive regulations spurred him to leave Montauk with his wife, the former Mary Fagen, and move to Key West, where he fished the nearby Dry Tortugas, and then to Melbourne Beach to fish the kingfish migrations.
“His fishing skills can’t be overstated, but Gary also had a great sense of humor and a soft heart,” Robert Persan said, explaining that his late brother had countless friends and gained the respect of lifelong fisherman up and down the coast. “He once gave a young fisherman the last 10 dollars in his pocket,” and when asked why, Mr. Persan replied, “He had less than I had.”
Mr. Persan is survived by his wife, and a son, Michael Persan, both of Melbourne. He also leaves two younger brothers, Brian Persan of Montauk and Robert Persan of Sag Harbor, as well as five nieces and nephews. His parents died before him.
Mr. Persan was cremated. His family plans to hold a memorial service and spread his ashes in the rips off Montauk at a later date.
Hilde Tarkel Smith, a gentle woman who spent years maintaining two of Montauk’s more historic buildings, died at Southampton Hospital on Saturday, three weeks shy of her 90th birthday. She had been in failing health for several months.
She was born in Germany, the daughter of William and Anna Tarkel. During her early career as an X-ray technician in Baltimore, she met Dr. Dwight R. Smith. The couple were married in 1951. While her husband served on the staffs of three hospitals in the greater Baltimore area, she focused on her love of antiques and decorating while raising their three children.
It was her husband’s interest in skin diving that led the Smiths to Montauk. After a number of years traveling back and forth between Montauk and Baltimore, they purchased one of the Seven Sisters, a cottage designed by the firm McKim, Mead, and White in the 1880s. The grand old house became Mrs. Smith’s home for 35 years.
There she carried on her passion for local history and period decorating, while also renting rooms on the property to summer visitors. There was a three-apartment cottage, and other apartments in the Grandview Manor, a building that was moved from the beach at Ditch Plain and had once been a U.S. Life-Saving Service station.
Mrs. Smith eventually sold the larger Stanford White house and focused her energy on restoring the Grandview Manor. She lived a quiet and peaceful life there among the birds, wildlife, and sound of the sea she loved.
She is survived by two sons, Jeffrey Smith of Maryland and Randy Smith of Montauk, and a daughter, Claudia Dickinson, also of Montauk. Ms. Dickinson said her mother was grateful to those who showed her great kindness and compassion during her last years, especially Dr. Anthony Knott, the crew of the Montauk Ambulance Company, and the nurses at Southampton Hospital.
A private graveside service is planned at Fort Hill Cemetery in Montauk. Memorial contributions were suggested for the Montauk Medical Center through Southampton Hospital, 240 Meeting House Lane, Southampton 11968, or to the Montauk Ambulance Company, 12 Flamingo Avenue, Montauk 11954.
Ward Mohrfeld, a longtime resident of Floyd Street in East Hampton, died on Aug. 12 at the Westhampton Care Center following cardiac surgery on July 27 at Stony Brook University Medical Center. He was 76 years old.
Mr. Mohrfeld was born on Nov. 30, 1934, in Collingswood, N.J., to Howard Morris Mohrfeld and the former Anne Hamilton. After growing up in Larchmont, N.Y., he graduated from Phillips Academy in Andover, Mass., and from Princeton University in 1956 before spending six months in an Army Reserve program at Fort Dix, N.J.
He worked for many years as an acquisitions editor for several book publishers, including Penguin Books, Henry Holt, and New American Library. After moving full time to East Hampton in the mid-’90s, Mr. Mohrfeld became a real estate broker at Allan M. Schneider.
With his lifelong companion, Marilyn Abel, he explored East Hampton’s “byways and lore,” according to Ms. Abel, who added that Mr. Mohrfeld was captivated by East Hampton’s history, beginning with their house, which they restored “as little as possible.”
Mr. Mohrfeld frequently attended the Opera in HD broadcasts at Guild Hall and was often to be found in the East Hampton Library, where he fed his love of literature.
“He was also extremely fond of bagels from Hampton Bagels,” Ms. Abel said, adding that he was “a great cook. His skill at seasoning was unsurpassed.”
In addition to Ms. Abel of East Hampton, Mr. Mohrfeld is survived by a brother, Peter Mohrfeld of Pittsboro, N.C., and by a half sister, Gwyneth H. Bear of San Pedro, Calif.
He was cremated. A gathering in his honor will be held at some point in September.
Stanley R. Schellinger of Sandra Road in Springs died of lymphoma on Aug. 9 at Southampton Hospital at the age of 79.
A fixture at the town dock, where he always found friends, Mr. Schellinger, who was known as Pep, could tell a good story or two, often for hours, according to his family, who described him as fun-loving and kindhearted, someone who always had a smile on his face.
He enjoyed clamming and sharing his catch with friends. He was a skilled woodworker, making weathervanes, birdhouses, and custom house signs, and a pretty good Sunday painter whose favorite subjects were landscapes, windmills, and fish. Both handy and generous, he collected broken-down bicycles, fixed them, and donated them to neighborhood children.
Born in Amagansett on Oct. 13, 1931, to Ellsworth and Evelyn Miller Schellinger, Mr. Schellinger graduated from the Amagansett School and East Hampton High School. He was in the Army from 1952 to 1954 during the Korean War and spent one year in Korea. He worked for many years after his discharge for R. DiGate and Sons and Bistrian Gravel in East Hampton.
Mr. Schellinger was married on Sept. 5, 1954, to the former Joan A. Lewandowski, who survives, as do four children, Charles R. Schellinger of Springs, Wendy L. Schwab of Orlando, Fla., Evelyn M. Shields of Amagansett, and Yvonne R. Schellinger-Wood of Springs. He also leaves a brother, Gary Schellinger of Tennessee; seven grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren. His parents and two brothers, Ronald L. Schellinger and Larry S. Schellinger, predeceased him.
A military graveside service was held at Green River Cemetery in Springs on Aug. 11. Memorial donations have been suggested to the Springs Ambulance Company, 179 Fort Pond Boulevard, East Hampton 11937, or to the Amagansett Fire Department Ladies Auxiliary, P.O. Box 911, Amagansett 11930.
Ron Sauers, a skilled designer and building contractor known for his attention to detail, died on Aug. 14 after a long battle with cancer. He was 73.
“He was categorically one of the most intelligent carpenters I ever worked with. He was brilliant. His ability was on another level. Not only could he design it, he could build it so that every step led to the next. Very pragmatic, no wasted movement,” said Thom Fleming of Montauk, one of a generation of builders inspired by Mr. Sauers.
He lived in Montauk for a number of years, and examples of his work can be found throughout the East End. After leaving here, he moved to Manhattan, where he met his wife, the former Ronnie Beth Gould.
While in the city, he supervised construction of Greenacre Park on East 51st Street, a hidden gem featuring a waterfall, for the Rockefeller family, and managed the park for 40 years thereafter. He worked for a time at Rockefeller University supervising various construction projects.
During this time, Mr. Sauers continued with his contracting business, building and renovating sound and video studios for the entertainment industry. He and his wife bought a number of derelict buildings on Main Street in Beacon, N.Y., and restored them. The Sauerses are well known in the Hudson Valley for their part in the revitalization of the City of Beacon.
Mr. Sauers served in the Coast Guard and was an accomplished sailor. He spent many hours lovingly restoring his latest boat, a 48-foot classic ketch, Free Spirit, which was berthed on the Hudson River.
For 20 years, Mr. Sauers rented Taylor Island, in the middle of Coecles Harbor off Shelter Island, as a family retreat.
Ron Sauers was born in Brooklyn on Jan. 1, 1938, a son of James Sauers and the former Dorothy Stokes. He grew up in Babylon and joined the Coast Guard at 18. Stationed at Cape May, N.J., he worked up and down the East Coast on government construction projects.
Mr. Sauers is survived by his wife of 35 years, a brother, Tim Sauers of Montauk, and two daughters, Pamela Sauers Drumm and Tracy Sauers Erb, both of Montauk. He leaves three granddaughters, Melissa Drumm, Logan Erb, and Camille Erb, all of Montauk.
Mr. Sauers’s ashes will be spread at sea. A memorial service will be held at a time and place to be announced. Memorial contributions have been suggested to the Wolf Conservation Center, 7 Buck Run, South Salem, N.Y. 10590-1123.