Thomas C. Whitehill
Thomas Whitehill was a familiar figure at Georgica Beach in East Hampton, where he could be found most days in the summer in his baggy trunks, full beard, and deep tan. Mr. Whitehill, a law book editor, graphic designer, and assembler of found objects in an outsider art style, died of a heart attack at home on Hog Creek Road in Springs last Thursday. He was 71.
His studio, a one-story former dairy shed, was the original headquarters of the Springs Fire Department. Later, it was owned by Hedda Sterne, one of the first women artists in the Abstract Expressionist movement.
“I always liked making things and collaging them,” Mr. Whitehill said in an interview in The East Hampton Star last year. “Then I started working with metal, blacksmithing, when I was in another life.”
“At one point, I tried selling stuff, but it was such a drag to have the inhibition of that looking over your shoulder.”
Thomas Charles Whitehill was born on Oct. 20, 1946, to Henry Whitehill and the former Margery Werner and grew up in Allentown, Pa., and Manhattan.
He attended the Rudolf Steiner School in Manhattan and Long Island University’s C.W. Post campus and received a law degree from Brooklyn College. He lived for many years in Sea Cliff with his wife, Colette, and their two daughters.
Not interested in pursuing law, Mr. Whitehill turned to freelance graphic design. He made periodic visits to Morocco, which he loved. Many of his drawings reflected his appreciation of that country’s visual culture, his family said.
The Springs studio, house, and property were filled with hundreds of whimsical sculptures made of things he picked up with what his family said was a magpie sensibility, collecting scraps and shiny things and putting them together in curious and striking ways.
Music, especially playing the electric bass, was another love of Mr. Whitehill’s.
He was an excellent cook, they said, and had volunteered at the Glen Cove Soup Kitchen for many years while living in Sea Cliff. Mr. Whitehill was also a beekeeper, maintaining hives at Planting Fields Arboretum in Nassau County.
After his wife’s death in 2005, Mr. Whitehill moved to Springs and set up his workshop. He did not cook as much there, instead going out to dinner almost every night, dining with a friend at Sam’s or Zokkon or Cittanuova, among other places.
He was tall and unmistakable, if perhaps selectively gregarious, and a summer’s day at Georgica Beach if Mr. Whitehill was not relaxing under his umbrella or standing and talking to friends seemed somehow wrong. Even arriving at the beach parking lot, Mr. Whitehill cut a noticeable figure in his bright red International, later a very old Mercedes sedan, and last, a highly decorated Toyota Prius. His family and friends said they would remember him for his sly humor, quiet dignity, and understated kindness.
His daughters, Rebecca Branwyn of Sunnyside, Queens, and Lina AhMee of Sea Cliff, survive him, as does a granddaughter. Mr. Whitehill was cremated. No service was announced.