Nancy Weintraub

Nancy S. Weintraub, who, along with her husband, Max Weintraub, was well known among East Hampton restaurant goers as one of the duo behind Cafe Max, died on Monday after a long illness. She was 65.

The couple met in January, 1974, and by the end of the year were married in East Hampton. In 1980, they took over the restaurant at the Maidstone Arms, an East Hampton inn, with Mr. Weintraub as chef and Mrs. Weintraub as hostess, publicist, and wine buyer.   Eventually, the Maidstone Arms was sold, and the new owner bought out Mr. Weintraub’s lease, according to an article in The East Hampton Star last year. It turned out to be a blessing in disguise, as the couple launched Cafe Max, on the Montauk Highway in East Hampton.

Mrs. Weintraub’s wine palette was described as pitch perfect, and she put together wine lists and cellars recognized with awards from publications like The Wine Spectator, which recognized her many times. The restaurant has been operated in recent years by Sami Krasniqi, who had worked as a chef there with Mr. Weintraub.

Away from the job, Mrs. Weintraub was active  in the fight to stop animal abuse. She helped local shelters, particularly the Animal Rescue Fund of the Hamptons, capture and spay feral cats, and started a campaign to disabuse potential owners of the superstitions surrounding black cats, which makes them least likely to be adopted, by setting up an annual Black Cat Campaign. Everyone that adopted a black cat received a Cafe Max gift card.

Her family said she also enjoyed her garden and bird-watching. But, most of all, she loved her husband, and the life they had chosen together. Speaking about the restaurant business, she told The East Hampton Star in 2013, “We never had children. This was our baby.”

Mrs. Weintraub was born in Chicago to Lily Ann and Robert Smith, although the family soon moved to Miami, where she grew up. She is survived by her husband and by a brother, Ed Martinez of New Haven, Conn.

Visiting hours are tomorrow at the Yardley and Pino Funeral Home in East Hampton from 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 p.m., and will be followed by a private burial.