Anthony DiSunno, Architect, Was 69

Anthony DiSunno, an architect who helped form A.I.A. Peconic, the local chapter of the American Institute of Architects, and had served as its president, died on April 8 of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. He was 69 and had been diagnosed in December 2014.

Mr. DiSunno established DiSunno Architecture in East Hampton in 1983 and guided the firm through hundreds of projects large and small over the course of nearly three decades. “Every project had a design based on its own merits, and that was important to him — that we never did the same project twice,” said his son, Christopher DiSunno, who took over the firm in 2010. 

Anthony DiSunno was born on March 2, 1947, in Southampton to Tony DiSunno and the former Gladys Robinson. He grew up in Amagansett, graduated from East Hampton High School, and married his high school sweetheart, Rebecca Maxey, on Sept. 2, 1967. He was studying at the Long Island Technical School when he was drafted into the Army. He was on active duty from January 1968 to January 1970 and was in the reserves until December 1973.

Mr. DiSunno moved with his wife and two children to Houston, where he earned a master’s in architecture from the University of Houston and began his architectural career with Howard Barnstone Associates and then House Rey Associates.

The family eventually returned to East Hampton, where his son and daughter, Nicole, completed school. He served on the East Hampton School Board in the mid-1980s, was a member of the East Hampton Lions Club and Oddfellows Hall, and was an early member of the East End section of the Long Island A.I.A chapter, which eventually split off to form A.I.A. Peconic. Mr. DiSunno worked to establish the chapter’s scholarship fund and served on the committee that raised money for it, primarily through an annual golf outing. “He gave his time willingly and unselfishly in support of A.I.A. Peconic” and other organizations, his wife wrote.

In 2006, he spent six weeks volunteering in Tanzania with Cross Cultural Solutions, where he worked with a women’s cooperative. It was a life-changing experience, said his wife, who was teaching at New York University and subsequently returned with a group of students.

Mr. DiSunno enjoyed sailing and had kept two boats while on the East End. He also loved hiking and camping in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina, where he designed and built a second home. With a group of friends, he loved to ride motorcycles  along the Blue Ridge Parkway.

He continued to work part time in East Hampton, spending summers in North Carolina, until his retirement a year and a half ago.

In addition to his wife, who splits her time between East Hampton and North Carolina, and his son, who lives in East Hampton, he is also survived by his daughter, Nicole DiSunno of East Hampton, and by a grandson and a granddaughter. Also surviving are two sisters, Sharon DiSunno of Hampton Bays and Doris DiSunno of East Hampton, and a brother, David DiSunno of East Hampton.

Services will be private.

Donations have been suggested to the A.I.A. Peconic Scholarship Fund, P.O. Box 327, Hampton Bays 11946.