Jerry Dillon, 76

Jerry Dillon, who grew up in East Hampton and graduated from East Hampton High School with the class of 1955, died in Columbus, Ohio, on May 25. He was 76 and had a long history of pulmonary disease and congestive heart failure.

Mr. Dillon’s family on his maternal side owned The East Hampton Star from 1890 until 1935, when the Rattray family purchased the paper. His grandmother Bertha Boughton had been its publisher for about 20 years up to then; his grandfather Welby Boughton was the editor. His father, Dermot Dillon, was The Star’s printshop foreman when he married the bosses’ daughter, the former Marion Boughton.

On May 31, 1937, Mr. Dillon was born to them at Southampton Hospital. After graduating from high school he went into the Air Force and made it his career until 1976, when he left to work for the Northrop Grumman Corporation. His brother, Noel Dillon of Baltimore, said he spent a long time there working on the B-2 stealth bomber.

He retired from Grumman in 1997. He and his wife, Marge, who were married in 1965, bought a recreational vehicle after that and lived in it full-time, traveling all over the country. They had lived in various places before, including Palmdale, Calif., Livingston, Tex., and Clintonville, Ohio. While living in California Mr. Dillon was a member of a Masonic lodge in Rosamond, the Al Malaikah Shrine Temple in Los Angeles, and the Elks Club in Mojave.

Besides his wife and his brother, he leaves three children, all of whom live in Columbus. They are Greg Dillon, Douglas Dillon, and Merri LeBlanc. Six grandchildren survive as well.

Funeral services were held on June 4 at Schoendinger North Chapel in Columbus. Noel Dillon said his brother would be buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

The family has suggested memorial contributions to the Shriners Hospitals for Children, 3229 Burnet Avenue, Cincinnati, Ohio 45229.