Peter Enrico Rana Jr.

Peter Enrico Rana Jr., who followed his father as an Amagansett barber and was born in his parents’ apartment over the Main Street barbershop, died at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in Manhattan on Dec. 13, eight months after being diagnosed with esophagus cancer. He would have celebrated his 84th birthday on Jan. 15, 2018.

His parents were Peter Enrico Rana Sr., who had immigrated from Italy when he was 14, and the former Rose Teresa Miraglia, a second generation Italian-American. They met in New York City and married in 1916, moving to Amagansett, where the senior Mr. Rana opened the barbershop in what is now Astro’s Pizza.

Four years after his birth in the apartment above the barbershop, Mr. Rana rode out the Hurricane of 1938 huddled in a closet with his siblings and his mother. He attended the Amagansett School just down the street, and then East Hampton High School. 

During the Korean War, he served in the Navy, assigned to service radios on aircraft carriers, a job that took him to naval ports around the world. After receiving an honorable discharge in 1956, he followed in his father’s footsteps, training as a barber in New York City and working next to him in the Amagansett shop.

He soon became a fixture in the Amagansett community. He was a firefighter in the Amagansett Fire Department for 15 years and in its ambulance corps for another 17. He owned a taxi at one time, and once drove for Arthur Miller and Marilyn Monroe. He also was a member of the East Hampton Town Planning Board for over a decade. 

As a barber, however, Mr. Rana decided there was more money in the distaff side of the trade and enrolled in the Marinello School of Beauty in Manhattan, where he met his wife-to-be, Virginia Meyer. They were married in Brooklyn after a 10-month courtship on Oct. 9, 1958. The couple settled in the apartment in which he was born and founded the Charm Beauty Salon adjacent to the barbershop.

Offered a job by his brother-in-law, Samuel Lester Sr., a well-respected and busy builder, Mr. Rana decided to switch trades. He learned his new craft quickly, became a licensed electrician, and formed his own company, Rana Enterprises, building numerous houses across the East End. “A lot of businesses started out in buildings he built,” one of his daughters, East Hampton Town Justice Lisa R. Rana, said Monday. “He was a very fair man.”

In his spare time, Mr. Rana took to golf and could frequently be found on the South Fork Country Club links in Amagansett. He and his wife enjoyed antiquing, collecting early American furnishings, glassware, and antique clocks, especially those with pendulums. Visitors to their house could look forward to the striking of the hour, with each clock’s different chimes perfectly timed. He also appreciated boating and cars, and was very handy and could fix almost anything, Justice Rana said. What he loved the most, though, was his family.

The Ranas had four children, all of whom survive: Dawn Rana Brophy of Amagansett, Peter Rana III of Auckland, New Zealand, Annette Rana Webb of East Hampton, and Justice Rana, of Springs. 

The couple began wintering in Jupiter, Fla., in the early 1980s with several other East Hampton families. He continued working until the late 1990s. At that time, he purchased land on a lakeside in Casco, Me., a small town where the general store sells everything from hunting ammunition to a quart of milk. It was a rustic, calm setting that reminded him of the world he grew up in on the South Fork.

“He was kind and gentle, a good friend, a good listener,” his daughter Dawn Rana Brophy said Monday. “He gave of himself. He was always there for those in need,” she said. He was always looking at the good in people. 

Besides his children and wife, Mr. Rana is survived by two sisters, Diana Vorhees of Wainscott and Rose Lester of Palm City, Fla., 11 grandchildren, and 3 great-grandchildren. Two sisters, Faye Barnes and Mazie Graham, died before him.

The family will receive visitors today at the Yardley and Pino Funeral Home in East Hampton between 4 and 7:30 p.m. A funeral Mass will tbe offered tomorrow at Most Holy Trinity Catholic Church in East Hampton, the Rev. Peter Gary officiating. Burial will follow at Most Holy Trinity Cemetery on Cedar Street.

The family has suggested donations in his memory to the Amagansett Fire Department, P.O. Box 911, Amagansett 11930-0911, or Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, 1275 York Avenue, New York 10065.