“My father was very unselfish and always put his family first,” said Ted Meyer’s daughter Deborah Meyer Boland. “He was my best friend. Old students and friends have been calling him a local legend. He touched so many former students, it’s remarkable. He helped people to become stronger.”
Born on Dec. 21, 1937, in Rockville Centre, Theodore Leroy Meyer was a well-loved physical education teacher and football and wrestling coach in East Hampton. He died on Feb. 25 at his Florida home. He was 84 and had been living with cancer for the past three years.
Mr. Meyer once had a student who couldn’t pronounce his last name correctly. That student called him “Coach Mert.” He held this affectionate nickname throughout his time teaching for East Hampton during the ‘70s, ‘80s, and ’90s.
Coach Mert wore many hats. Apart from teaching, he founded and ran a highly successful antique shop, Ted Meyer’s Harbor Antiques, in Wainscott. For a while he also ran a sports-theme restaurant in Bridgehampton called One of the All-Time Greats.
Mr. Meyer joined the Navy in the late 1950s while he was attending the State University at Cortland, where he met his wife, the former Joyce Best. They were married in 1960.
They lived a full life together and had many happy years of retirement. In retirement, he enjoyed golf, following sports, attending the track at Saratoga, painting, crossword puzzles, and watching his beloved family grow and thrive. For the past 12 years, the Meyers were members of the Delray Dunes Golf and Country Club in Boynton Beach, where they had many friends. Mr. Meyer played golf regularly with a tight-knit group who gave him yet another affectionate nickname, “the Mayor.”
“He led golf outings,” said Ms. Boland. “His friends are renaming the group the Ted Meyer Golf Club.”
Coach Mert will be remembered, said his family, for his big personality, quick wit, generosity, and sense of humor, but mostly for his love of friends and family. In addition to his wife of 61 years and his daughter Deborah, who lives in East Hampton, he is survived by another daughter, Donna Fischer of Sag Harbor, and a son, Christopher Meyer of Los Gatos, Calif. He also leaves four grandchildren: Carli Fischer and Drew Fischer of Sag Harbor, and Devon and Kassidy Meyer of Los Gatos.
A celebration of his life will be held on April 9 at the Clubhouse in East Hampton. “He wanted it to be a celebration,” said Ms. Boland.
Contributions in Mr. Meyer’s memory may be directed online to St. Jude Children’s Hospital for cancer research and treatment at stjude.org/donate.
