Richard Sharpe

    Richard L. Sharpe, a part-time Amagansett resident who had a long career on the business side of the radio industry, died on Jan. 1 in Locust Valley, where he also had a house. He was 72. The cause was a heart attack, his family said.

    Mr. Sharpe began his career as an advertising salesman before moving into national sales for large radio groups. He later ran a New York City radio representation company.

    More recently he began brokering deals to buy and sell stations, said his son, Michael Sharpe. One transaction in which he was instrumental was the 2011 sale of a media group that included Riverhead-based WRCN-FM.

    “He knew everybody,” one of his clients wrote to Mr. Sharpe’s colleagues after hearing of his death. “Going with him to the [National Association of Broadcasters convention] was so much fun. I couldn’t walk the convention floor with him without stopping 20 times to have him introduce me to some broadcasting giant.”

    He and his wife, Sheila, were enthusiastic golfers and members of the South Fork County Club for more than 25 years. Mr. Sharpe also enjoyed traveling, watching sports, and spending time with his grandchildren. The Sharpes, who married on July 25, 1964, were 30-year summer residents of Meeting House Lane.

    Mr. Sharpe was born in Detroit on April 6, 1940, to George Sharpe and the former Grace Reina. He grew up in Manhasset and attended the University of Bridgeport in Connecticut.

    He was a member of Most Holy Trinity Catholic Church in East Hampton and St. Dominic’s Catholic Church in Oyster Bay, where the Rev. Gerry Gordon officiated at a funeral service on Jan. 5. Burial followed at Mount St. Mary’s Cemetery in Flushing.

    In addition to his wife and son, who lives in Richmond, Va., Mr. Sharpe leaves three daughters, Kimberly Farren and Courtney Hollett, also of Richmond, and Alison Moore of Amagansett and New York. He is also survived by a brother, George Sharpe of Vero Beach, Fla., and 10 grandchildren.

    The family has suggested memorial donations to the Hereditary Neuropathy Foundation c/o Courtney Hollett, P.O. Box 1922, Midlothian, Va. 23113.