Skip to main content

Marc Brugnoni, Producer and Director

Wed, 12/06/2023 - 17:50

March 4, 1936 - Nov. 5, 2023

Marc Peros Brugnoni, a director and television producer who won five Emmy Awards for his work, died in his sleep on Nov. 5 at Stony Brook University Hospital. He was 87.

An Amagansett resident, Mr. Brugnoni had worked for CBS, NBS, PBS, Unicef, and the March of Dimes. He contributed to the very first episode of “Sesame Street” and many episodes after that, and “ironically,” his family said, his last work was for the “Elmo’s World” segments on “Sesame Street.” In 1972, he started his own production company focusing on motion pictures, videos, and television programs ranging from current affairs to nature documentaries to children’s education

Mr. Brugnoni’s parents, Rene Brugnoni and the former Lubi Peros, settled in Queens after immigrating from France and what was then Yugoslavia. He was born in Queens on March 4, 1936, and grew up in Manhasset. His father was an architect who worked on Roosevelt Field and briefly with I.M. Pei and Henry Ford. His mother was a fashion illustrator for Macy’s and Gimbels.

He graduated from Manhasset High School and went on to Harvard College, where he majored in English. He returned home to New York City after graduating. It was there that he met his future wife, Elisabeth Colmar, through his parents’ friends. They were married in her native France on Sept. 23, 1960.

The couple moved to Roslyn, where their three daughters were born, and in 1974 settled in Amagansett, a place Mr. Brugnoni “fell in love with immediately,” his family wrote. The wide-open and undeveloped landscape of the South Fork at that time “allowed him to pursue two of his great passions: fishing and hunting. In all his world travels, he always felt that Louse Point in Springs was one of the most wonderful places on Earth.”

Mr. Brugnoni “was a loving and inspirational father, grandfather, great-grandfather, and friend,” his family wrote. “The lives he touched were many and he will be greatly missed by family and friends.”

His wife died on July 3 of this year. He is survived by his daughters, Dian Breza, who lives on Costa Rica’s Osa Peninsula, Elena Hanson of Hatfield, Mass., and Amanda Topping of Sagaponack, and their spouses, and by his grandchildren, Sean Breza, Madeleine Breza, Nathaniel Hanson, Olivia Hanson, and Phoebe Topping, and a great-grandchild, Finn Breza. He also leaves a brother, Eric Brugnoni of Woodstock, N.Y.

The family plans an informal celebration of the life of Mr. Brugnoni and his wife on their anniversary, Sept. 23, 2024, at a location to be determined.

 

Villages

Volunteers Take Up Invasives War at Morton

Most people go to the Elizabeth Morton Wildlife Refuge in Noyac, part of the National Wildlife Refuge system, to feed the friendly birds. On Saturday, however, 15 people showed up instead to rip invasive plants out of the ground.

Apr 24, 2025

Item of the Week: Wild Times at Jungle Pete’s

A highlight among Springs landmarks, here is a storied eatery and watering hole that served countless of the hamlet’s residents, including the Abstract Expressionist painter Jackson Pollock.

Apr 24, 2025

The Sweet Smell of Nostalgia at Sagaponack General

Stepping into the new Sagaponack General Store, which reopened yesterday after being closed since 2020, is a sweet experience, and not just because there’s a soft-serve ice cream station on the left and what promises to be the biggest penny candy selection on the South Fork on your right, but because it’s like seeing an old friend who, after some struggle, made it big. Really, really big.

Apr 17, 2025

 

Your support for The East Hampton Star helps us deliver the news, arts, and community information you need. Whether you are an online subscriber, get the paper in the mail, delivered to your door in Manhattan, or are just passing through, every reader counts. We value you for being part of The Star family.

Your subscription to The Star does more than get you great arts, news, sports, and outdoors stories. It makes everything we do possible.