Claire Pollikoff

Claire Patricia Pollikoff, who was 19, died on May 31 after being admitted to the intensive care unit at Stony Brook Southampton Hospital on May 27. She had been found lying on a trail in East Hampton’s Northwest Woods after an accidental overdose.

According to her family, Ms. Pollikoff’s passion was cosmetology. “She loved to do makeup and she was great at it,” her mother, Bernadette O’Brien of East Hampton, said. Her daughter wrote beautiful poetry and had a beautiful voice and loved to sing, Ms. O’Brien said.

Ms. Pollikoff was born on Aug. 14, 1998, at Southampton Hospital, one of two daughters of Ms. O’Brien and Jay Pollikoff of East Hampton. Her parents, who are divorced, survive, as does her younger sister, Caitríona Pollikoff, who is known as Cat.

Ms. Pollikoff was brought up mainly in East Hampton and attended East Hampton High School,  but she went to school in Dublin as well, when she and her mother and sister lived there for three years. 

“She was a very witty, feisty, kind, and compassionate young woman, and had a big heart,” Ms. O’Brien said.

A funeral service was held at the Yardley and Pino Funeral Home in East Hampton on June 3, with the Rev. Donald P. Hammond of the Amagansett Presbyterian Church and the Rev. Ryan Creamer of Most Holy Trinity Catholic Church in East Hampton presiding. Ms. O’Brien was especially grateful, she said, to Mr. Hammond, and to Doreen Quaranto of Most Holy Trinity, who “were with us every step of the way and still continue,” as well as to the staff of the I.C.U. in Southampton.

Ms. O’Brien said she wanted to “thank our community for all of their generous help and encouragement.”

Ms. Pollikoff was cremated. Her ashes will be buried with her paternal grandparents’ ashes here and her maternal grandparents’ ashes in Dublin. There will be a memorial service in Ireland in August.

Five aunts and uncles in Dublin also survive, as do 12 first cousins. The family has suggested memorial donations in Claire Pollikoff’s name for organizations that are combating the opioid crisis on the East End.