Roland A. Reich, 87

Roland A. Reich, a former East Hampton resident who had worked for New York Telephone in Manhattan for 42 years, died on Saturday in North Kingston, R.I., where he had lived for about two years. He had been ill for about six months, his family said.

He was born on Jan. 21, 1928, in Astoria, Queens, to Anton Reich and the former Amalia Huber. His father was a master carpenter and passed skills on that Mr. Reich would use building and carving, including in making his award-winning duck decoys, his family said. He grew up in Astoria and Flushing, Queens, and served a year in the Army.

With his wife and children, Mr. Reich had kept a vacation place on Oakview Highway in East Hampton, which became a year-round home following his retirement from the phone company.

Among Mr. Reich’s interests was fishing, something he shared with his sons, Robert Reich of Montauk and Richard Reich of Narragansett, R.I., and, according to a note in a 1979 East Hampton Star, with his wife, the former Pauline Rupel, whom he had married on Jan. 1, 1950. He docked a boat at the Three Mile Harbor fishing station. He and his wife enjoyed angling for fluke in the bay during the warm summer months, his son Richard Reich said.

Mrs. Reich died in 2008. Mr. Reich is survived by four grandchildren and one great-grandson. His funeral was private.

Memorial donations have been suggested to the East Hampton Village Ambulance Association, 1 Cedar Street, East Hampton 11937.