Obituaries

Through his company Harbor Electronic Publishing, James F. Monaco put out such titles of local interest as “Oh, That’s Another Story: Images and Tales of Sag Harbor,” “On Montauk” and “Sag Harbor Is,” both subtitled “A Literary Celebration,” and, most recently, “True Stories of Old Sag Harbor,” a collection of Sag Harbor Express columns by Jim Marquardt.   

Eleanor L. Ecker, a former librarian at East Hampton High School, died on Saturday at Peconic Bay Medical Center in Riverhead with members of her family present. She was 90 and had had a brief illness.     

Steven M. Jacobson, a playwright, attorney, art collector, and dedicated supporter of arts, died of heart failure on Dec. 8 at New York-Presbyterian Hospital.

Marjorie F. Cowen, a former administrator at Tulane University, died on Dec. 16 in New Orleans of complications from a fall. The East Hampton summer resident was 77.

Michael Bye, an East Hampton native who left Riverhead for Florida on his 35-foot powerboat in late October, went missing off the Carolina coast on Nov. 21 and is presumed dead, his family said this week.

Alberto Herszage, the owner of a fine foods import business in Hawaii, died of renal failure on Dec. 6 at home in Springs. He was 81 and had been ill for five years.     

Philip J. Priolo, a summer resident of East Hampton who worked as a trainer of racehorses, died at home with his family in Howard Beach, Queens, on Dec. 5.  

Marcia F. Gowen, a former managing director of the Center for Specialty Care, a medical group practice in Manhattan, died of cancer on Dec. 14 at home nearby on East 76th Street. The East Hampton summer resident was 83 and had been ill for nearly five years.     

Michelle J. Sucsy, who had cancer for almost 12 years, died peacefully at home in Springs on Oct. 3. She was attended in her final days by her husband of 34 years, Mark C. Sucsy, her younger daughter, Kestral Anne Sucsy, and her longtime friend Mary Ellen Von Anken of Greenport and Manhattan.

Betty L. Cobb, an 11th-generation native of East Hampton, died on Dec. 4 at the Springs house of her daughter, Diane Goncalves, following a lengthy illness. She was 89.

John M. Wood Jr. of Springs, a retired East Hampton Town Highway Department crewman who loved his job operating heavy machinery, died at home on Dec. 2.

John Arnold de Sousa Sr., an Air Force veteran, retired plumbing contractor from Montauk, and former member of the East Hampton Republican Committee, died on Dec. 2. He was 85.