Stewart Pearce

Stewart Pearce, who had a 40-year career with the Metropolitan Opera in Lincoln Center, died at New York-Presbyterian Hospital in Manhattan on July 17 with his husband, Kevin Kellogg, at his side. He was 65, and was diagnosed with lymphoma not long ago.

Mr. Pearce first came to East Hampton in 1998, and he and Mr. Kellogg bought a house in Springs on Isle of Wight Road. They cherished the time they had together here, Mr. Kellogg said. Mr. Pearce, who loved to cook and walk the beaches, often said the Springs house was his respite from the stress of the opera world and that every weekend spent here was a vacation.

From 2006 to 2014, he was the assistant general manager at the Met, having begun his career as an intern in 1976. He also served as the managing director of the Opera Guild from 2010 until his retirement in 2015. Peter Gelb, the Met’s managing director, in announcing his death to the members of the opera company, said that Mr. Pearce’s “knowledge of the Met and how it worked was second to none.”

 Mr. Pearce was born in Brooklyn on June 1, 1951, to Daniel Pearce and the former Dorothy Linn, and grew up in Fair Lawn, N.J. A Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Brandeis University, he later earned a master’s degree in arts administration from New York University.

Mr. Pearce and Mr. Kellogg were married on June 6, 2009, in Lenox, Mass. The couple had been together 18 years and had known each other even longer. They first met as members of a Met Opera audience in 1984, Mr. Kellogg recalled.

Family members said Mr. Pearce was widely read, a world traveler, and a devotee of theater and film. He spent a lot of time at the East Hampton Library, stopped by BookHampton, and attended productions at Guild Hall in East Hampton and Bay Street Theater in Sag Harbor, as well as Broadway shows.

Devoted to the many pets he and his husband shared over the years, he was often seen in East Hampton walking one of their dogs. They often went to Paris and other European cities, taking in opera productions as they traveled.

“Mr. Pearce will be remembered for his wit and wry sense of humor, his consummate knowledge and love of opera, his gentleness, warmth, humility, optimism, and grace. He was a true gentleman,” his family said.

Mr. Pearce was cremated, and his ashes were buried on Monday at Greenwood Cemetery in Brooklyn, Rabbi Robyn Tesarsky officiating. A memorial service will be announced in the fall.

Memorial contributions have been suggested to Doctors Without Borders USA, P.O. Box 5030, Hagerstown, Md. 21741-5030.