Obituaries

Joan A. Ehren, a former president of the Ladies Village Improvement Society of East Hampton and of the Friends of Guild Hall, died on Jan. 18 at Stony Brook Southampton Hospital after having been ill for several weeks.

Linda Suzanne Deeb Metcalf, who owned the Lume candle store in Amagansett for 12 years and lived in that hamlet for more than 20, died of dementia on Dec. 28 at the Bellhaven Center for Rehabilitation and Nursing Care in Brookhaven.

Maryanne Bennett of Sag Harbor, a nurse for more than 40 years, died of pulmonary fibrosis on Jan. 11 at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital, having been ill for a year.

Visiting hours for David Grimes, who died at home in Montauk on Thursday, will be held on Tuesday from 1 to 3 and from 5 to 9 p.m. at the Yardley and Pino Funeral Home in East Hampton, with a firematic service at 7. A funeral will be held on Wednesday at 11 a.m. at St. Therese of Lisieux Catholic Church in Montauk, with a celebration of his life to follow at the Montauket.

Catherine Babcock of East Hampton, a manager at Main Beach for 18 years, a school crossing guard, and a police matron starting in the 1960s, died at home on Dec. 12. She was 98.

Word has been received of the death of Patrick Abrams in Costa Rica in December. He had cancer. A Montauk resident for over two decades, he had lived in Costa Rica since the mid-1990s.

Shirley Wackley, a parishioner at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in East Hampton who had worked at Osborne Insurance and the Strong Insurance Agency here, died of lung cancer at home in Boynton Beach, Fla., on Jan. 26. She was 87.

Stephen Randolph Gretz, a finance executive who had a house in East Hampton for 50 years, died in Chicago of a stroke on Jan. 21. Known as Randy, he was 74.

Barbara H. Scheerer, who served on the boards of the East Hampton Library, the East Hampton Village Planning Board, and the East Hampton Meals on Wheels, died at home here on Monday. She was 92.

Dr. Berry James Vaughan, a dentist with a private practice in East Hampton from 1974 until 2018, died on Jan. 7 at the Westhampton Care Center. He was 75 and had been ill with cancer and other health complications.

Frederick A. Terry Jr., an attorney and sportsman, philanthropist and scholar, died at home in East Hampton on Jan. 13. He was 90.

George D. Meredith, a co-founder and creative director of Gianettino & Meredith, a New Jersey advertising agency, died at home in Springs on Jan. 5. He was 82 and had been in declining health.

James Gerard Stier of Montauk, who had a long career with W.R. Grace & Company, a multinational with roots in materials, chemicals, and shipping, died at his son’s house in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., on Jan. 3. He was 94 and had been in hospice care for about two months.

Kathryn D. Vegessi, shoreside support for the Lazybones, a popular half-day party boat hailing out of Montauk operated by her husband, Capt. Michael Vegessi, died at St. Francis Hospital in Roslyn on Jan. 8. She was 70.

Louis J. Sapienza, the owner of East Hampton Masonry Supply, died on Jan. 8 at Stony Brook Southampton Hospital. He was 70 and had lived with heart disease for several years.

Nancy Johnston Mulford of Buell Lane in East Hampton, a volunteer and Presbyterian elder in the many places she lived, died on Jan. 12 in Skillman, N.J. She was 85.

Marilyn Thompson of Montauk, an abstract artist whose career spanned 50 years, died on Dec. 11 while vacationing in Madeira, Portugal. She was 90.

Alice Byrnes Cooley, who began working as a telephone operator before she graduated from high school, and in her retirement was a familiar face at East Hampton Town’s senior citizens center, died at home in Bluffton, S.C., on Jan. 1.

Elizabeth Kaplan Fonseca of East Hampton died on Dec. 19 of long-term Alzheimer’s disease. She was 93.

Visiting hours for Louis J. Sapienza of East Hampton will be held today from 2 to 8 p.m. at the Yardley and Pino Funeral Home in East Hampton. A graveside service is planned for tomorrow at 11 a.m. at the Jamesport Cemetery.

Gunther Schlessinger, a summer resident of Amagansett who had a 60-year career in finance, died on Dec. 17 of pneumonia caused by Covid-19. He was 93.

Jacqueline Ann Mitchell, a retired elementary school teacher who grew up in East Hampton, died in Newark, Ohio, on Dec. 21. She was 77 and had been ill with liver cancer.

Jim Miller, formerly of Springs, an illustrator, art director, and graphic designer behind some of theater’s most memorable shows, died of congenital heart disease on Dec. 15 at home in Vero Beach, Fla. He was 83.

Kathryn D. Vegessi, who had lived in Montauk for many years, died at St. Francis Hospital in Roslyn on Sunday of complications from a staph infection. She was 70.

Susan Sullivan Saiter, an author, freelance journalist, and educator, died of pneumonia on Dec. 27 in Winston-Salem, N.C. A part-time Water Mill resident, she was 76.

Keith McDonald of East Hampton, a science teacher at the Tuckahoe School for many years, died at Peconic Bay Medical Center in Riverhead on Dec. 13 following a series of medical complications.

Carol Lynne Elms, a caretaker and gardener on Gardiner’s Island and at large estates in East Hampton, died of cardiac arrest on Dec. 10.

Elizabeth Kaplan Fonseca died at home in East Hampton on Dec. 19 after a long illness. She was 93.

Helen Ann MacIsaac, formerly of Amagansett, whose career included over a decade of senior international roles in corporate development, finance, and marketing, died on Dec. 11 in Washington, D.C.

Theresa Whelan, who had a long and distinguished law career on Long Island, died of cancer at East End Hospice in Westhampton Beach on Dec. 26. A resident of Wading River, she was 60.