Peggy Anne Bradt “was a force of nature, radiating laughter and joy, who lived a life filled with love,” said her son George Bradt of Amagansett and Stamford, Conn. “You could always tell where she was because everybody was laughing,” and she didn’t mind laughing at herself, wearing odd hats or funny glasses or flashy jewelry, often just to put a smile on other people’s faces.
“She went through life trying to make others happy, no matter what indignities it cost her,” Mr. Bradt said.
Mrs. Bradt, who divided her time among Amagansett, New York City, and Vero Beach, Fla., died of complications of vasculitis on March 23 in New York. She was 91 and had been ill for a month.
She was a beachgoer, here and in Florida. A member of the Amagansett Beach Association for some five decades, she was a popular presence there, her son said. “She lit up whatever room or whatever beach she touched.”
A skilled bridge player, she had achieved the level of silver life master. Although she was a member of the South Fork Country Club in Amagansett, her son said it was not for the golf — she made her own rules — so much as the social aspect.
Mrs. Bradt was born in Winston-Salem, N.C., on Nov. 25, 1932, to Benet Polikoff and the former Margaret New. She grew up in New York City and graduated from Smith College in Massachusetts in 1955. She and Morris (Bud) Bradt were married on Oct. 26 the following year.
In the 1970s and ’80s she worked for the Parents League of New York.
In addition to George Bradt, she is survived by another son, Richard Bradt of Rye, N.Y., and by four grandsons, George Bradt Jr. of Old Greenwich, Conn., Peter Bradt of Larchmont, N.Y., Reid Bradt of San Diego, and Ward Bradt of New York City. She leaves two granddaughters, Avery Bradt of Austin, Tex., and Serena Bradt of Denver. Her husband died in 2014.
She was buried at Cedar Lawn Cemetery in East Hampton.
Her family has suggested memorial contributions to the Amagansett Village Improvement Society, P.O. Box 611, Amagansett 11930.
