Jay P. Jarboe, Commercial Pilot

Jay P. Jarboe, who was a pilot for the heavy metal bands Motley Crue and Def Leppard and later for commercial airlines, died of a cardiac aneurysm in Naples, Fla., on Dec. 14. A frequent visitor to Montauk, he was 64. 

Mr. Jarboe was known, his family said, for a keen and curious mind, an extraordinary and self-deprecating sense of humor, a knack for telling enthralling stories about his life, and for his favorite expression, “Who loves ya?”  

Born on April 27, 1954, to the former Edna Steen and Jay Jarboe, he and his family lived abroad, in Turkey and African countries, before settling in Wantagh. While attending the hamlet’s high school, he and Linda Burkhardt, who became his longtime partner, began dating. 

Having inherited his father’s passion for flying, he graduated from the Academy of Aviation in Farmingdale and also received a bachelor’s degree from Dowling College.

During the 1980s, he piloted charter flights for Motley Crue and Def Leppard after members of his wide circle of friends, some of whom were the bands’ managers, recommended him for the job. He began his more than 35-year commercial career by flying single-engine planes for P.B.A. Airlines, which serviced Provincetown, Mass. He remained with the commuter airline after it was bought by Continental and then United Airlines, eventually working his way up to piloting Boeing 777s. 

His full-time residence was in Naples, but during his frequent trips to visit Ms. Burkhardt, he would spend many days on his boat, fishing off Montauk Point. His family said he also loved to ski and had moved out West in the 1970s to become, as he termed it, “a Colorado hippie.” He had also lived in Provincetown, Brightwaters, N.Y., and Cape Elizabeth, Me.

Linda Burkhardt of Montauk survives him, as does a stepdaughter, Lea Burkhardt Winkler of New York and Montauk. A brother, Charlie Jarboe, died before him. 

A memorial service will be held on May 4 at the Montauk Lake Club.