Obituaries

Carolyn Celeste Cerchiai “devoted her life to her family,” they wrote. “Carolyn’s warmth touched everyone who knew her.” Mrs. Cerchiai died at Stony Brook Southampton Hospital on Jan. 22. She was 80 and had a respiratory illness.

Paid Notice: Howard E. Faulkner of Riverhead, NY, formerly of Northport, and East Hampton, peacefully passed away on February 1, 2025. He leaves behind a legacy of faith, love and dedication which touched many people throughout his remarkable life.

Visiting hours for James Emmett Mabry of East Hampton will take place on Monday from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Calvary Baptist Church in East Hampton, with a “home-going” service to follow at 1. Mr. Mabry died on Jan. 22 at the age of 75.

Peter L. Rothholz, the founder of Peter Rothholz Associates, a public relations agency, died on Dec. 20. A former summertime resident of Springs, he was 95.

Leroy Kayser of East Hampton, a former systems analyst for Federated Department Stores, died on Jan. 19 at the age of 99.

Visiting hours for Carolyn Cerchiai of East Hampton will be held Friday from 5 to 8 p.m. at the Yardley and Pino Funeral Home in East Hampton. Ms. Cerchiai, who was 80, died on Jan. 22.

Eleanor Osborne Ratsep, the president of the East Hampton Library Board in the 1990s, died on Jan. 17 at the age of 93. A funeral service will be held at the East Hampton Presbyterian Church on Friday at 11 a.m.

Harry E. Heller of Springs, who had careers in aviation engineering, advertising, and public opinion research, died on Dec. 29 in Philadelphia. He was 90.

Ricky Schellinger, a maintenance man at the East Hampton mobile home park on Oakview Highway for two decades, died of cancer on Sunday. He was 70.

Patricia Smith, a speech pathologist and chairwoman of the committee on special education at the Bridgehampton School, died on Sunday at Stony Brook Southampton Hospital. She was 74.

Paid Notice: Winifred Rosen, beloved children’s author and artist, passed away on December 5, 2024, at the age of 81. Raised and educated in New York City, Winnie graduated with honors from NYU. She taught high school English and Literature for several years before discovering her true calling as a writer of children’s and young adult books. 

Stephen Grossman, a lawyer whose firm had an office in Sag Harbor for decades, died on Jan. 14 at NYU Langone hospital in Manhattan of complications of lung cancer. He was 83.

Norman Abell of Amagansett, a former senior partner at Huber, Lawrence & Abell, a New York City law firm, died of thyroid cancer on Sunday. He was 95.

Paid Notice: Joe, who recently moved to Tampa, Florida, passed away at a hospice facility in Palm Harbor on January 6. Joe was 74 years old. Joe, who was known to his family and friends as Bubba, grew up in Brentwood, Long Island before moving to Amagansett around 1970, following a number of friends who were into the surfing culture at the time.

Evelyn Irene Hansen, who worked as a bookkeeper here for many years, died at home in Springs on Jan. 6. She was 77.

Louise Demmers Carlson, who moved to East Hampton in 1958, died on Oct. 17 in Eugene, Ore. She was 98.

Rafael Rojas, a native of Colombia who worked at an estate off Route 114 in East Hampton for over 30 years, died at the age of 90 on Jan. 10 in Winchester, Mass.

Alfred E. Devendorf, an attorney known for his strong commitment to charitable causes, died at home in East Hampton on Dec. 29. He was 89.

Rosemary Reynolds Nichols, a dean of performing arts at the Ross School in East Hampton in the late 1990s and early 2000s, died on Dec. 21 in Austin, Tex. The cause was ovarian cancer.

Len Rodriguez of Sag Harbor, a skilled carpenter who started his own construction company, died on Dec. 27 after a long illness. He was 87.

Paul Giardina of East Hampton, a nuclear engineer who had a long career with the Environmental Protection Agency, died on Dec. 21 at Stony Brook Southampton Hospital. He was 75.

Visiting hours for Meghan Payne, a Springs School teacher who died last Thursday, will be held at the Yardley and Pino Funeral Home in East Hampton on Tuesday, Jan. 7, from 4 to 7 p.m. Her funeral will be on Wednesday, Jan. 8, at 11 a.m. at St. Luke's Episcopal Church in East Hampton. 

A requiem Mass for John Conner, a champion international and national age-group runner who built affordable houses here that enabled many to remain in their hometown, is to be recited at Most Holy Trinity Catholic Church in East Hampton at noon on Saturday, with burial to follow in the church’s cemetery on Cedar Street.

David Stiles of East Hampton and New York City, a prolific builder of treehouses and garden structures as well as a contributor of cartoons and letters to The Star, died in New York on Saturday evening. He was 91.

Paid Notice: Michele Anne Novak, born October 30, 1951, passed away peacefully at her home in Sag Harbor, New York, after a courageous battle with ALS, which she was diagnosed with in March of this year.

Larry Penny, former director of East Hampton Town’s Natural Resources Department and a nature writer for this newspaper for about 40 years, died on Dec. 15 in California. He was 89.

Larry Penny, the writer of The Star’s “Nature Notes” column for many years, died on Sunday in California following a two-week hospital stay. He was 89 and had lived in Noyac until recently.

Paid Notice: Geoff Jenkins of East Hampton, N.Y., died at the Kanas Center for Hospice Care in Quiogue, NY, on December 5, 2024, after a courageous battle with cancer. 

A native of Ireland whose family said she will “always be remembered for her unconditional love and care of others,” Kitty O’Neill of Wainscott and Woodside, Queens, died on Nov. 27 at the Lahey Hospital and Medical Center Burlington, Mass. She was 85.

Albert A. Zaccaria of Montauk, a Navy veteran who served as a medic aboard the U.S.S. Saipan during the Korean War and later became a schoolteacher, died at home on Nov. 23. He was 93.