Gregg Denis de Waal, 57

Gregg Denis de Waal died unexpectedly after collapsing at the Whalebone Market in Noyac on Sept. 3. He was 57 and his family said he had no record of illness and that his death came as a shock.

Although Mr. de Waal worked in a number of different fields over the years, his family said he was a true bayman, who owned two boats and worked seasonally as a commercial fisherman, fishing, clamming, and scalloping. He was a dog lover, they said, and was always to be found with man’s best friend at his side, whether while driving a truck or on a boat.

He was born at Southampton Hospital to the former Dolores De Venere and Victor de Waal, longtime East Hampton residents who owned a local shop called the Cheese Cupboard. He grew up on Jericho Road and graduated from East Hampton High School in 1980. He then graduated from the State University at Cobleskill, returning to live in East Hampton and eventually settling in Springs.

 He worked after college at Whitmore’s Garden Center in Amagansett, but soon branched out on his own, opening a landscaping company called the Golden Bough. He later worked for Schenck Fuels, for which, over 10 years, he was a driver and service technician. In the years since leaving Schenck, he worked independently as a plumbing, heating, and air-conditioning technician.

Mr. de Waal is survived by his mother, who lives in Palm City, Fla., and a sister, Wendi Pierce of Leesburg, Va. His father died in 2000 and a younger brother, Barry, died in 2012.

A funeral Mass will be celebrated for him on Oct. 3 at 9 a.m. at Most Holy Trinity Catholic Church in East Hampton. His ashes will be buried in a family plot in the church cemetery.