George James Gregory, a former part-time resident of Amagansett and retired college professor who loved fishing on Napeague, died last Thursday at Alaris Health at the Atrium in Jersey City. He was 83 and had complications of dementia.
Mr. Gregory was known as friendly but protective of his secret fishing spots, his family said. He loved seafood and “savored every free moment spent behind a fishing rod or clam rake until his health began to fail” in 2012.
He was born George James Gregoriou on March 15, 1936, in Flassou, Cyprus, to Demetrios and Elpiniki Gregoriou. He immigrated to this country in 1950 with his mother and two brothers, following in the footsteps of his father, who had arrived here a year earlier. The family lived in Manhattan briefly before settling in Hoboken, N.J.
Mr. Gregory joined the Army and served in Wiesbaden, Germany, achieving the rank of sergeant thanks to his “ferocious typing abilities,” his family said. He was also the captain of the Army’s soccer team in Germany.
Mr. Gregory, whose formal last name was Gregoriou but who often used Gregory, earned two degrees from New York University, including a doctorate in political science. During his career he taught at Brooklyn College, Seton Hall University, and William Paterson College, retiring at the age of 68. He was a passionate advocate for Cypriot independence and wrote a book titled “Cyprus: A View From the Diaspora.”
He married Brenda McAlpine on May 22, 1968. They visited the South Fork for the first time in the summer of 1975, camping out on humid nights in the parking lot of Gosman’s restaurant with their son, Alex, and their dog in a fogged-up Peugeot.
In the ensuing years, Mr. Gregory spent every weekend he could here. “He was the muscle behind his wife’s herb farm on Three Mile Harbor Road during the 1980s,” his family said. He also coached a traveling youth soccer team in Springs during the summers.
Mr. Gregory’s two brothers, John Gregoriou and Gabriel Gregoriou, died before him. His wife, Brenda Gregory, who lives in Hoboken, and his son, Alex Gregory of Los Angeles, survive, as do two grandchildren, Olivia and Kaitlyn, and 11 nieces and nephews who live across the world.
