June Ellen Heath, 90

June Ellen Heath of Montauk died at the Hamptons Center for Rehabilitation and Nursing in Southampton on Saturday. She was 90, and had been diagnosed with cancer 10 years ago.

A great lover of music, Mrs. Heath worked as a young woman in a record shop in her hometown of Philadelphia, where she met her future husband, the legendary jazz bassist Percy Heath. So in love were the couple that they defied the racial intolerance of the times and that of Pennsylvania law, which prohibited interracial marriage, and were wed on March 31, 1950, in New York City, where they afterward lived.

Mrs. Heath worked as a hospital aide in Manhattan until becoming a mother, when the Heaths moved to Queens. In the early 1960s, the couple began visiting Montauk in the summer. They camped and fished with their three young sons. Mrs. Heath, a crackerjack fisherwoman, became the International Game Fish Association women’s world record-holder with a 13-pound, 10-ounce fluke.

She was born June Ellen Jones on Feb. 10, 1926, in Philadelphia. She loved many kinds of music and along with her many favorite jazz artists ranked Mozart, Chopin, Willy Nelson, and Carly Simon among her favorites. She also cared deeply about civil rights and the environment, and supported the Southern Poverty Law Center and the World Wildlife Fund, among other charities. 

Though she was often left at home with their sons while her husband was on tour, she did enjoy several trips with him to Europe and Africa. The couple visited the White House twice, guests of Presidents Richard Nixon and George W. Bush.

     The Heaths moved to Montauk full time in the 1990s. Mr. Heath died in 2005. Their sons, Jason and Stuart Heath of Montauk and Percy Heath III of Manhattan, survive.

     Her wishes were that no service be held.