Obituaries

Gerald Cummins, a respected political consultant who was a campaign adviser to John F. Kennedy in 1960 and ran Hugh Carey's successful gubernatorial campaign in 1974, inherited his passion for politics from his father and grandfather, the latter of whom had been a writer for President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

Betty A. Vail loved East Hampton and told her daughter, Marci Vail, that the best day of her life was "the day that she and her parents returned to East Hampton from Baltimore, where her father worked in an airplane factory during World War II."

Sean Doyle, a native of Ireland and a resident of East Hampton for over four decades, died on Jan. 2 at Stony Brook Southampton Hospital. He was 86. A spring memorial will be announced, and an obituary will appear in a future issue.

Charles Waller's illustrations, paintings, and assemblages combined whimsy, wit, and humor with sarcasm and social commentary. His work — paintings on distressed tin, embellished bone, layered and textured collage and constructions using vintage objects of iron and wood — appealed to a wide audience and reflected his unique take on life. Mr. Waller died at home in Springs on Jan. 16. He was 66 and had contracted Covid-19 two weeks earlier.

Eugene David Beckwith, a former Montauk Fire Department commissioner, died in his sleep on Jan. 2 at the Long Island State Veterans Home in Stony Brook. He was 95.

A longtime fixture in both the cultural and horticultural life of East Hampton, Mary G. Clarke, who also lived in San Antonio, Tex., died on Jan. 13 at her house here. Her son Jonathan said her wish was to be with her family in her final weeks. She was 70 and had been diagnosed with cancer two months ago.

Dr. Martin Shepard, a psychiatrist, author, and, with his wife, Judith Shepard, trailblazing publisher, died with his family around him at home in Noyac on Dec. 17. He was 86 and had been ill for a short time.

Yuris Murillo Cruz of Amagansett died on Jan. 13 of injuries suffered in a hit-and-run accident in that hamlet. A funeral Mass for the 36-year-old mother of two was said on Tuesday at Most Holy Trinity Catholic Church. An obituary will be published in a future issue.

Lenore Brien of Rockville Centre and East Hampton died of complications of cancer at home in Rockville Centre on Jan. 11. Her family was with her. She was 73.

Edward Charles Kominski, who owned and operated a painting and wallpapering business here for almost 40 years, died of end-stage kidney disease at home in East Hampton on Jan. 3. He was 87 and had been ill for 10 years. "In his final days he was visited by numerous loving friends," said his granddaughter Katheryn Cooke-Michel.

A prominent philanthropist, she was a tireless advocate for others, children above all, her family said, devoted to global public health and serving as a powerful voice for those in need. Concerned with politics as well, she campaigned on behalf of candidates and civic causes in which she believed deeply.

Natalie Hahn, who worked as a licensed real estate broker in East Hampton for 31 years and was a longtime member of the Choral Society of the Hamptons, was remembered this week for her passion, optimism, intellect, and loyalty.

Rose Marie Rutkowski of Montauk, who with her husband owned Mr. John's Pancake House and later the Montauk Movie theater, died at Stony Brook Southampton Hospital on Jan. 5. She was 88.

Steven P. Balcuns, who grew up in Montauk, died of heart failure on Dec. 29. He was 49.

Laura Marie Hegner, who grew up in Montauk and graduated from East Hampton High School in 1983, died of a heart attack at home in Coram on Jan. 2. She was 56 years old.

Robert P. Devlin, an owner of the Clam and Chowder House at Salivar's Dock in Montauk, died of liver cancer on Dec. 15 at home in that hamlet. He was 54 and had been ill for two months.

Anna Marie Nassauer of East Hampton Village died at home on Dec. 28. She was 92.

Marillyn Buelow Wilson, a prominent conservationist and philanthropist whose involvement with the Nature Conservancy and the Peconic Land Trust spanned five decades, died at Peconic Landing in Greenport on New Year's Day. She was 96 and had been in declining health for several years.

Kathleen E. Gosman of Montauk died on Dec. 29 at the Fairview Avenue house she shared with her husband of 60 years, Emmett Gosman. Mrs. Gosman had been diagnosed with cancer eight months ago. She was 79.

A funeral Mass for Laura Hegner, 55, of Coram, will be said on Sunday at 1 p.m. at St. Therese of Lisieux Catholic Church in Montauk with burial to follow at Fort Hill Cemetery. Ms. Hegner, a former resident of Montauk, died in her sleep on Saturday. An obituary will appear in a future issue of The Star. 

James Gleason Conzelman III, who spent summers in East Hampton with his wife and their three children, died at his house in Fairfield, Conn., on Dec. 25 of bile duct cancer. He was 58 and had been ill for six months.

Philip Wayne Hummer, a summer resident of East Hampton who had a wealth management company for nearly five decades, died at home in Chicago on Dec. 18. He was 89 and had been ill with cancer for three months.

Jack S. Kelleher, who worked with the East Hampton branch of Saunders and Associates for 12 years, until 2017, died in Santa Fe, N.M., on Dec. 11. He was 66 and had contracted Covid-19 three weeks earlier.

Juliana C. Vandervloed Nash, a native New Yorker who owned houses on Montauk Highway in Amagansett and Flaggy Hole Road in Springs, died at home in the Murray Hill neighborhood of Manhattan on July 11. She was 81 and had been ill with lung cancer for eight months.

Catherine D. Bennett, a Bridgehampton native and resident of East Hampton Village for 65 years, died of complications of Covid-19 on Dec. 20 at the Hampton Center for Rehabilitation and Nursing in Southampton. She was 87.

Betty A. Vail of Miller Lane East in East Hampton died at the Kanas Center for Hospice Care in Quiogue on Tuesday. An obituary will appear in a future issue.

Peter J. Steckowski, a former Amagansett resident, died on Dec. 22 in Boomer, N.C. He was 60. A spring memorial will be announced, and an obituary will appear in a future issue.

Bruce H. Baldwin of East Hampton and Naples, Fla., who was a founding member of the Springs Fire Department, died of a heart attack at home in Naples on Dec. 11. He was 84 years old.

Patricia Skidmore Kyle, a Mad Men-era advertising, promotions, and merchandising executive at Ladies Home Journal, Time Inc., and Conde Nast, died of complications from pneumonia on Dec. 8 at Peconic Landing in Greenport. She was just 20 days short of her 90th birthday.

Marion Wheeler, who lived in East Hampton for the last 40 years, died at home on Montauk Avenue on Dec. 18. Ms. Wheeler, who was 95, had been ill for the past year.