Obituaries

Bruce Erickson, a lifelong fisherman and longtime resident of Montauk, died last Thursday at Heartland Health Care Center in Fort Myers, Fla. Mr. Erickson, who was 72, had been ill with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease for the last nine years.

Virginia Marie Kehoe, who moved to East Hampton with her husband in 1987 after her retirement from the Bryant Library in Roslyn, died on March 19 after an illness of three months. She was 91.

Known as Ginny, her family said she would be remembered for warmth, beauty, friendliness, humor, patience, and steadfastness.

Born Virginia Marie Smith on May 24, 1922, her parents were George Smith and the former Anna Irwin. The family, which included three sons, lived in Jamaica, Queens, where she attended Richmond High School, graduating in 1942.

    Betty Eames of East Hampton, a member of American Legion Post 419 in Amagansett and a former fire police volunteer with the Springs Department, died of pneumonia on April 13 at Southampton Hospital. She was 76 and had lung cancer since 2008. 

Annette Heller, who had careers as a jewelry maker, a focus group leader, and a snack food entrepreneur before settling full-time in Springs and turning her attention to art, died on Sunday at home on Longwoods Lane in Springs. She was 77 and had fought breast cancer for 20 years.

Born to Simon and Gladys Abraham on Feb. 17, 1937, she graduated from the City College of New York with a bachelor’s degree in education and a master’s in school psychology. She became a teacher and took pride in helping students reach their full potential, her family said.

Dorothy Patterson, a former Bridgehampton and North Fork resident, died at the Hamptons Center for Rehabilitation and Nursing in Southampton on March 27. She was 92.

She was born on Aug. 23, 1921, in Colorado to Rob Rozwell and the former Emma Goodale. When she was still young, the family moved to a farm on the North Fork, where she attended school, graduating from Riverhead High School.

During World War II she and her first husband, Donald D. Wells, lived in Yuma, Ariz., where Mr. Wells was stationed in the military and where she worked in an aircraft factory.

William R. Silano, a widely published fashion photographer, died at home in Bridgehampton on April 14 following what was described as a lengthy illness. He was 80.

For the bulk of his career, Mr. Silano was a freelance photographer, working during the 1960s in Paris and London for Elle, among other publications. Upon returning to his native New York City, he worked for Town and Country and Harper’s Bazaar. His work appeared in those magazines over a span of more than 25 years.

Visiting hours for Christopher A. Cosich of Devon Landing Drive, Amagansett, who died on Monday at home, will be held Thursday from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. at Yardley and Pino Funeral Home in East Hampton. A funeral for Mr. Cosich, who was 47, will be held at the funeral home at 5 p.m. on Thursday.

Joyce King, who grew up in East Hampton and graduated from East Hampton High School, died on Friday at Florida Hospital in Orlando, Fla. She was 70. Her cause of death was complications related to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, her family said.

Ms. King was born on May 15, 1943, in Babylon to James and Muriel Southard. Her husband, Preston King, died before her. For many years, she and Mr. King lived in Hampton Bays.

A self-taught architectural draftsman and dedicated enthusiast of politics, sailing, skiing, and waterskiing, Otis Allan Glazebrook IV of Bell Road in Springs died on March 28 at home. He was 65. The cause of his death was not known pending a coroner’s report, his life partner, Mary Trabona, said.

John Spencer Davis Jr., an interior designer, artist, and musician, died on March 25 in Alexandria, Va. Mr. Davis, whose last years were spent on Maidstone Lane, East Hampton, in a house owned by his parents for about 50 years, was 64. He had been ill for a long time, his family said.

Known as Jock, he was born in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 24, 1949, to Spencer Davis and the former Sarah Kimball. He attended the Landon School in Bethesda, Md., until ninth grade, and graduated in 1968 from the Salisbury School in Connecticut.

Antje Katcher, a Springs poet, publisher, and photographer, died of pancreatic cancer on April 7. She was 66.

Ms. Katcher, a person of wide-ranging interests and talents, was also a professional translator, political activist, and financial analyst.

In 1988, she founded Three Mile Harbor, a poetry journal, which evolved into an independent press that published books by poets such as Enid Dame, Jean Kemper Hoffmann, and Pamela Kallimanis.

Skipworth Duncan Ho died at her house in Wainscott on April 7 at the age of 83. She had been ill for some time, her family said.

Born in Bronxville, N.Y., to Perry Duncan and the former Eleanor Murray on Oct. 11, 1930, she attended the Dana Hall School in Wellesley, Mass., and graduated from Bennington College.

“She was a very beautiful woman,” said her daughter Francesca Weaver. “She was an amazing, colorful, crazy person.”

Cornelius O’Connell, a retired East Hampton school administrator who was known as Neil, died at Southampton Hospital on April 8. He was 70 and had been ill with pneumonia.

Mr. O’Connell began his career as an elementary school teacher and then became an assistant principal.

Morton S. Eisenberg, a psychiatrist in private practice and on the staff of New York Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center, died on March 27 at his Manhattan residence from complications of prostate cancer. He was 93 and had been ill for one year.

Some of Dr. Eisenberg’s happiest hours were spent in East Hampton, where he had a close circle of friends and enjoyed going to the beach, landscaping and gardening, and long games of chess. Tennis was also a passion, and he continued to play well into his 80s.

Jean K. Lenahan, a former chef at Trail’s End restaurant in Montauk, died on April 7 at Southampton Hospital just one day shy of her 76th birthday. She had been ill for a short time.

John David Leo, who retired as East Hampton’s assistant postmaster in 1982 after 25 years with the Postal Service, died of leukemia on Feb. 26 at home in Matthews, N.C. He was 92.

Prior to his tenure with the Postal Service, Mr. Leo was a truck driver for Schwenk’s Dairy and Railway Express, and he transported South Fork potatoes and produce to Hunts Point Market in New York City. He moved to North Carolina in 1998.

Larry Zarsky, an entrepreneur who left a definitive mark on the clothing and licensing industries, died in East Northport on March 31 at the age of 72. A resident of East Hampton for many years, he had been ill with mantle cell lymphoma for six weeks.

Mr. Zarsky, who was known as Larry Z, was part of the original sales and marketing team that brought Bic pens to this country in the 1960s. Next, setting his sights on the fashion industry, he was one of the first salesmen to represent Esprit de Corp., helping the clothing brand to expand its worldwide reach in the mid-1970s.

Margaret Bryan Hedges-Yost, a summer resident of Wainscott for many years, died on March 18 in Syracuse following a stroke. She was 102 and had lived in the Menorah Park senior citizens home there for five years.

Mrs. Hedges-Yost, who was known as Peggy, was a psychiatric social worker at Columbia-Presbyterian Hospital in New York City for several years before moving to Syracuse in 1941 with her husband, Herbert Hedges Jr. There, she went to work for Child and Family Services then chose to stay home to care for their sons.

Earl Lee White Jr., a retired aviation radar technician and resident of Springs, died at home on March 26. He was 84 and had been ill for some time.

Vincent Jones of Springs, a founding paraprofessional at the Forsyth Street campus of Satellite Academy High School, one of the first small, alternative public high schools in New York City, died of cancer at Southampton Hospital on Dec. 31. He was 62 and had been ill for a year and a half.

    “Montauk is filled with magic, mystery, and miracles,” Eugenia Rice Bartell once wrote. She shared her love of the place with the children of St. Therese of Lisieux church before embarking on a career in real estate, while keeping up on all the hamlet’s doings as the community editor for the Montauk Pioneer newspaper. After the Pioneer folded, said her daughter Carla Markson, she dreamed of starting a newspaper in the hamlet herself, but it was not to be. She died on April 4 at her Garfield Avenue residence of complications from emphysema. She was 75.

    “He arrived in Montauk in 1979 on a houseboat and stayed for 25 years, loving every moment and everyone he met,” Richard J. Hall’s sister, Carol Hall Murray, wrote.

    Mr. Hall died on March 26 in Huntington of complications related to diabetes. He was 82.

    He was born on June 18, 1930, in Armonk, N.Y., to Esther and Warren Hall, and attended Armonk public schools. Later in life, he worked with antiques and sold magazines. He loved fishing, animals, and scavenging for treasures at local estate sales. 

    Helen Louise Freytag, a bookkeeper who had made Springs and East Hampton her home since World War II, died on Friday at Southampton Hospital. She was 86 and had been in declining health for the past couple of years.

    Known to her friends as Louise, she was born on Dec. 22, 1926, in Greenfield, Mo., to Russell William Brooks and the former Anna M. Barnard. She grew up in Oakland, Calif., where her parents moved when she was a child.

    Friends and family of William G. Field have been invited to a celebration of his life to be held at the American Legion post in Amagansett on April 28 at 2 p.m. Mr. Field, who was born in Springs and had been an East Hampton resident before moving to Ellenton, Fla., died on Jan. 7 at the age of 80.

    Anne Marie Connors, who raised her family in the Cooper Lane, East Hampton, house she and her husband built 59 years ago, died of complications from pneumonia on March 27 at Hope Hospice in Cape Coral, Fla. She was 84 and had been ill for six weeks.

    Wilson Moore Griffing Jr., a 12th-generation Long Islander and a nearly lifelong resident of Amagansett, died of cardiac arrest on March 23 at a nursing home in Freeport after a prolonged period of failing health. He was 85.

    Mr. Griffing, who was known as Sonny, was born in Amagansett on Aug. 14, 1927, to Wilson Griffing and the former Irene Gosman. He grew up on Main Street. When his father died in 1977, Mr. Griffing inherited the house he was born in and continued to live there until the time of his own death.

    Visiting hours for Martin E. Forsberg of Springs, 45, who died on April 3, will be tomorrow from 6:30 to 9 p.m. at the Yardley and Pino Funeral Home in East Hampton. An obituary will appear in a future issue.

    Those who knew Marilyn Abel, and many here did through her work at the East Hampton Historical Society, book clubs, volunteer activities, and a range of other interests and passions, will remember her for her devoted friendship and dedication to social activism and the First Amendment.

    The long-time resident of East Hampton died on April 5 in Southampton Hospital after a brief illness. She was 74.

    Wilson Moore Griffing Jr., a 12th-generation Long Islander and a nearly lifelong resident of Amagansett, died of cardiac arrest on March 23 at a nursing home in Freeport after a prolonged period of failing health. He was 85.

    Mr. Griffing, who was known as Sonny, was born in Amagansett on Aug. 14, 1927, to Wilson Griffing and the former Irene Gosman. He grew up on Main Street. When his father died in 1977, Mr. Griffing inherited the house he was born in and continued to live there until the time of his own death.

    Justine Kornelussen died on March 8 at home in East Hampton, where she lived for almost 50 years. She had been ill with lung cancer for a year and also had dementia, her son, Frank Kornelussen, said on Monday. She was 87 years old.

    She was born to Frank Barosa and the former Margaret Voit in Brooklyn on Jan. 14, 1926. Her mother died when she was a small child, and her father abandoned her. After growing up in an orphanage, “She left and went out on her own, and worked,” her son said, adding that she was dealt some hard knocks as a child.