Patrick Noel Moloney, born in Limerick City, Ireland, passed away from complications from pancreatic cancer on May 14. He was the beloved husband of Elizabeth for 50 years, father of five and grandfather of seven, with another grandchild due in August. His brother, William, and sister, Moira, predeceased him in Ireland.

Mr. Moloney was an inveterate sportsman, with a particular interest in hurling, rowing, Irish football, and all forms of Gaelic games. He was an avid golfer, or as he would say, “hacker,” and had his first hole in one at Hampton Hills Golf Club on July 2, 2013, while in the midst of chemotherapy treatment.

He was a member of the New York Athletic Club for 25 years, the Shamrock Golf Club for 35 years, the Smithtown Landing Men’s Golf Association for 41 years, and a lifetime overseas member of the Ballybunion Golf Club in County Kerry, Ireland.

Mr. Moloney founded Independent Investors, Inc., in 1983 after spending 25 years in the fiduciary division at Chemical Bank. He and his wife Elizabeth founded The Moloney Family Foundation in 2013 to further their philanthropic ideals.

“He was a true Irishman but never forgot what the United States meant to him,” said the family. “He will be missed by so many.”

A funeral Mass was held at St. Andrews R.C. Church in Sag Harbor on May 17.

The family asks that memorial donations be made to the SCA Indian Province, the Franciscan Friars of the Atonement, or the Lustgarten Foundation.

Mary Ellen Wilcox died Monday, June 9, at her home in Sag Harbor.

She was born on August 7, 1947, to Seeley and Dorothy (Cyr) Wilcox. Her childhood days were spent in Ferrisburg, VT, in the fields and pastures along Little Otter Creek.

She graduated from Vengennes Union High School and Johnson State College, where she was known for her athletic ability. She was one of two women to ever be recognized by the college for female athletic ability.

Later, she earned her master’s degree and professional diploma from Manhattan College, in Riverdale, New York.

Ms. Wicox moved to Westchester County, New York, in 1969, and began her career in education in the Lakeland School district, which spanned a total of 32 years; 10 years as a 6^th grade social studies teacher and the remaining time as a guidance counselor in the middle schools.

She is survived by her life partner of 33 years, Ann Wallingford and her beloved King Charles Spaniel, Tucker. She leaves two brothers, Gary, of Liberty, New York, and Marvin (Marty), of Keene, New Hampshire. There are two nieces and three grandnephews. Of significance to her is her chosen family in Kentucky. Brother-in-law Leroy and his wife Barbara Wallingford of Maysville, Kentucky, nephew Darrin Wallingford and daughters Eve and Andie of Lexington, Kentucky, and niece Lisa and husband David Hamm, and sons Tyler and Austin of Maysville, Kentucky.

Her life was so enriched and blessed with numerous friends. She took great comfort and peace in nature through gardening, quietly observing and bonding with special critters.  She frequently said, “Nature centers me.” She also enjoyed cooking, kayaking, biking, watching women’s sports but most importantly being with her friends and family. After moving to Sag Harbor, she became a volunteer at the Sag Harbor Community Food Pantry, which gave great meaning to her life. She would say, “I came home with so much more than I gave.”

Plans for a memorial service to honor Mary’s life are, at present, incomplete. However, it will be held at the Old Whalers’ Church in Sag Harbor, with the pastor, Mark Phillips officiating.

Memorial donations should be given to either the Sag Harbor Community Food Pantry, 44 Union Street, P.O Box 1241, Sag Harbor, NY 11963, or to the East End Hospice, P.O. Box 1048, Westhampton, NY 11978.

Robert L. Carter of McKeesport, Penn.; Brooklyn, N.Y. and Sag Harbor, beloved husband and father passed away peacefully in his room on Memorial Day, May 26, at the Long Island State Veterans Home at Stony Brook after a long bout with Alzheimer’s disease. He was 81 years old.

Mr. Carter is survived by his wife of 53 years, Joanne Williams Carter, his brother, Kenneth A. Carter of Buffalo, N.Y., his children Tiffany Carter, Janine Carter Chevalier and their spouses, his son Anthony Prendatt-Carter, granddaughter Gabrielle Gale Prendatt-Carter, great-granddaughter Sparkle Maria Gittens and a host of relatives and friends.

A graduate of Lincoln University, Pennsylvania, Mr. Carter served his country and his community with honor. A veteran of the Korean War, he was a member of the Chelberg Battle Post of the American Legion in Sag Harbor, and sang with the choir of Christ Episcopal Church where he was also Warden of the Vestry for several years.

A private cremation was held on June 2 and a memorial service to celebrate his life will be held at Christ Episcopal Church on Sunday, June 29, at 1 p.m. with a reception to follow. In lieu of flowers or gifts, the family asks that memorial donations be made to the Eastville Community Historical Society of Sag Harbor and/or Christ Episcopal Church.

David Carney, economist for the UN, and author, died at age 88 on 5/8/14.  He was born in Sierra Leone, W. Africa and retired to Sag Harbor, NY in 1984.  He is survived by daughter Diana, son Billy, and two grandchildren.  Online condolences: yardleypino.com.

Yves Antoine Bourel, formerly of Sag Harbor and a graduate of Pierson High School, died at Newport Hospital, Newport, Rhode Island Wednesday, July 2. He was 22 years old.

Born in Southampton on November 16, 1991, he was the son of Antoine and Andrea (Fleischer) Bourel.

Mr. Bourel had moved to Rhode Island about one month ago and had recently become a registered representative of the New York Life Insurance Company there. He was exited about the future the career held for him, said his family.

Mr. Bourel was a recent graduate of Salve Regina College in Newport, and received a B.S. degree in global business and economics. He had been a member of the Hampton Lifeguard Association and the East Hampton YMCA Hurricanes swim team.

“He had a love of water and a genuine kind heart,” said his family.

In addition to his parents he is survived by a sister, Chantal Bourel of Boston, Mass.

Visiting was held on Monday at Yardley & Pino Funeral Home in Sag Harbor. Funeral services were held on Tuesday at St. Andrews Church.

Anna Sophie Tweed, born February 12, 1917, died at the age of 97 on July 3, 2014.

Born to Joseph and Anna Koberlein in Heidelberg, Germany, Mrs. Tweed worked as a police school crossing guard in Uniondale, NY, before moving to Sag Harbor, where she lived for the last 20 years.

Mrs. Tweed was married to George H. Tweed, also deceased. She is survived by her son, Gary J. Tweed of North Haven, as well as her grandchildren, Kimberly Ann Regan and Kelley Brooke Tweed; her great-grandchildren, Dylan Tweed Regan and Kelly Claire Regan; and her nieces, Johanna Koberlein and Jeanann Koberlein.

There will be visitation hours held at Yardley & Pino Funeral Home, on July 14, from 7 to 9 p.m. There will be a funeral on July 15, at 10 a.m., at St. Andrews Church in Sag Harbor. Memorial Donations may be made to St. Andrew’s Church, 122 Division Street, Sag Harbor.

Robert E. Kalbacher, 82, of Springs, East Hampton, died Saturday, July 19.

The hours for paying respects to Mr. Kalbacher will be observed at   Yardley & Pino Funeral Home, 94 Pantigo Road, East Hampton, on Wednesday, July 24, from 2 to 4 p.m. and from 7 to 9 p.m.

Funeral services will be held at St. Michael’s Lutheran Church, Montauk Highway, Amagansett, on Thursday, July 24, at 11 am.

A reception for family and friends will follow at East by North East, (ENE), on Edgemere Street in Montauk, from 1 to 4 pm.

A full obituary will appear at a later date.

The first thing people noticed about Marianne Toy was her smile.  “She was very pretty,” her oldest daughter, Emily, said this week. It didn’t take much time , though, before the beauty behind the pretty face was evident. Mrs. Toy, who died August 5 at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York at the age of 60, was a nurturer.

“She was very caring and concerned about  other people and whatever they were going through,” Emily Toy said. “But she was also very practical and honest. She’d tell you what you needed to know, even if you didn’t want to hear it.”  Testament to a lifetime spent thinking of others, Mrs. Toy took a moment in the throes of her illness to write her family—husband Jerome  and daughters Emily, Rachel and Megan—telling them how lucky she felt to have had such a wonderful family to spend her life loving.

Born in Newark, New Jersey, in 1954 to Ellis Faraday and Mary Burns Faraday, Mrs. Toy was proud to share a birthday, May 29, with President John F. Kennedy.  The family moved to Sag Harbor when she was just 2, and Mrs. Toy spent most of her life, both growing up and for the last 15 years, in the same house across the street from Pierson High School, from which she graduated in 1972.

An array of employment positions kept Mrs. Toy, described by family as a hard worker, busy during her younger years. She ran a cleaning service,  worked as a florist and at area restaurants.

In 1978 she met Jerome Toy in the Corner Bar. The couple married in 1986 and lived for a time on Deering Road. They raised three daughters, and Mrs. Toy worked for the  last 15 years at Hamptons Dental Group.

Despite a full schedule of work, it was her family that was Mrs. Toy’s focus. She loved to cook and play host for family and friends. She was passionate about food and “had a great palate,” Emily Toy said. “Every food snob element I have comes from her.”

Her most cherished moments were spent relaxing and having a good time with loved ones filling her home. She enjoyed the beach and took pleasure in planting flowers in her yard.

Reading was a joy, and “she always had a book going,” said her daughter. Mrs. Toy was especially excited for her daughters  when they expressed interest  and began to follow career paths in the arts.

In addition to her immediate family, Mrs. Toy is survived by her brother William and sister-in-law Mary Faraday of Rockville Centre and their children Kate and Patrick; sister Ellen and her husband Steve Sowa, of Wareham, Massachusetts; and brother  Robert and sister-in-law Laurie Faraday and their daughter Mary. Her parents pre-deceased her.

The family received friends Sunday at Yardley & Pino Funeral Home in Sag Harbor. A mass was celebrated Monday at St. Andrew’s Roman Catholic Church , and burial followed at St. Andrew’s cemetery.

The family has requested that memorial contributions be made to Cormaria in Sag Harbor or the Lung Cancer Research Fund.

George P. Blank, a resident of Sag Harbor for the past 33 years, passed away on August 5, in Southampton Hospital, at the age of 65.

He is survived by his brother, Charles Blank, and his sister in law, Joan Blank of Sag Harbor. Funeral Mass was held at St. Andrews RC Church, Sag Harbor, and burial at St. Andrews Cemetery, Sag Harbor on August 8, 2014.

By Mara Certic

Thomas A. Twomey Jr., an attorney and civic leader, died of an apparent heart attack at his home on Two Holes of Water Road in East Hampton on Sunday morning. He was 68 years old.

Mr. Twomey was the senior partner and founder of the largest law firm on the East End of Long Island, Twomey, Latham, Shea, Kelley, Dubin & Quartararo, which he founded in 1973. He was also the longtime chairman of the East Hampton Library board—leading two major expansion projects—as well as a leader in numerous other community projects.

Mr. Twomey was born in Manhattan on December 8, 1945, to Thomas Twomey., a New York City police detective and Mary Twomey. His love for the East End began when he spent summers with his family in Mattituck.

A graduate of Manhattan College, Mr. Twomey put himself through both the University of Virginia and Columbia Law Schools by selling kitchen knives.

After a year of adventures around the world—one of which involved an elephant chasing his rented Volkswagen Beetle—Mr. Twomey returned to Long Island, where he founded his law firm. Mr. Twomey decided to establish his law firm in Riverhead, to be able to serve the entire East End. The firm now also has offices East Hampton, Southampton, Southold and Hauppauge.

During the early days of his career, Mr. Twomey split his time between his private practice and acting as counsel to local municipal boards in both East Hampton and Southampton towns at various times.

“I’ve known Tom for 40 years. He’s been a close friend. I’ve worked with him on a number of the most important issues over that time,” East Hampton Town Supervisor Larry Cantwell said this week.

“Tom had a profound impact on some of the major issues of our time including stopping the construction of Jamesport nuclear power stations and chairing the economic and environmental taskforce that resulted in millions of dollars coming to the East End to promote farming, fishing, tourism and the environment,” Mr. Cantwell continued.

Mr. Twomey was instrumental in the creation of both Suffolk County and New York State’s Farmland Preservation Programs. He formed the group “Halt the Highway,” and led the fight to prevent the extension of Sunrise Highway from Shinnecock Hills to Amagansett.

As chairman of the board at the East Hampton Public Library, Mr. Twomey led the capital campaign to raise an estimated $4 million to construct a 6,800-square-foot children’s wing for the library. Mr. Twomey cut the official ribbon opening the new addition in June of this year.  He also chaired the capital campaign that raised $3.5 million for a major addition to the library that was completed in 1997.

Mr. Twomey served on the executive committee of the Guild Hall Cultural Center and was an active fund-raiser for the center’s annual budget.

A pilot himself, Mr. Twomey was an advocate for the East Hampton Airport and recently served on the aviation subcommittee of the Airport Planning group.

Mr. Twomey was passionate about the history of East Hampton, and took a leading role in the town’s 350^th Anniversary Celebration in 1998. Afterward, Mr. Twomey was named town historian and edited five volumes on the history of East Hampton while in that capacity. A sixth volume will be published soon.

“When he took on an issue, he gave everything he had to it. He had an incredible passion and a commitment to see things through, regardless of how difficult it must have been to be successful,” Supervisor Cantwell said, “His loss will be felt for many years to come.”

Mr. Twomey is survived by his wife, Judith Hope, who served three terms as East Hampton Town Supervisor from 1973-75 and again from 1983-87.

In addition to his wife, he is survived by two stepchildren, Nisse and Erling Hope; three grandchildren, Soren Hope, Asaiah Aqui and Henry Luka Hope; and by his sisters, Mary Claire Vrtodusic of Oakdale and Florence Cope of East Marion.

Visiting hours will be on Friday, November 21, at Yardley and Pino Funeral Home at 94 Pantigo Road in East Hampton from 2 to 4 p.m. and from 7 to 9 p.m. Funeral services will be on Saturday, November 22, at 1 p.m. at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church at 18 James Lane in East Hampton. A reception will follow at East Hampton Point, 295 Three Mile Harbor Road.

Memorial donations can be made to the East Hampton Public Library, 159 Main Street, East Hampton.

By Stephen J. Kotz

Gerard D. Wawryk, a familiar face in Sag Harbor, where he presided over the restaurant Page at 63 Main, often darting out from the doorway to buttonhole  a passerby to voice a complaint about village government or wax on enthusiastically about his latest business venture, died on Sunday, April 12, at Stony Brook University Hospital.

Mr. Wawryk, who took an active role in education, serving a stint as school board president, and local politics, suffered a stroke at his home, an apartment above the restaurant, on April 6. He was 68 years old.

“He was the wizard behind the curtain at Page,” said Jaime D’Oliveira, the restaurant’s former general manager.

Over the past two years, Mr. Wawryk, who had owned the restaurant, first as Spinnakers and later Blue Sky, for more than 30 years, sought to remake its image. He took on a partner, Joe Traina, hired the chef James Carpenter, changed the name to Page at 63 Main and embarked on a major overhaul that included installing a system of on-site aquaponic gardens to provide a portion of the produce served on the restaurant’s tables. Mr. D’Oliveira said that Mr. Wawryk wanted to expand his restaurant to other locations , which would be named Page 2, Page 3 and so on.

“He did swim upstream a lot, not for the challenge or the fun of it, but just because he believed he was going in the right direction,” said Thomas Horn, a Sag Harbor attorney who represented Mr. Wawryk in his recent dealing with the village over the expansion of his restaurant. “But anybody who knew him, knew he was a soft touch for everyone.”

Peter Solow, an art teacher at Pierson High School, worked closely with Mr. Wawryk in the 1990s when both got involved in an effort to improve Sag Harbor’s schools. The two worked together to help gain passage of a major bond referendum that provided the funding needed to greatly expand Pierson High School.

“That really transformed the school district,” Mr. Solow said. “That really changed everything.”

“If you had to pick three or four people who got that bond issue through, Jerry was one of those leading the charge,” added Robert Schneider, who served as Pierson’s principal at the time.

Mr. Wawryk was elected to the school board in 1995 and served for six years, including three years as president. While involved with the local schools, he also helped found Youth Advocacy and Resource Development to provide programming for Sag Harbor kids.

Pierce Hance, who served as Sag Harbor’s mayor from 1993 to 1999, credited Mr. Wawryk with encouraging him to get involved in village politics.

“In those days, someone called him the ‘mayor of Main Street’ because he would be out in front of Spinnakers or walking up and down the street, talking about whatever issue was on his mind with anyone who passed by,” he said.

“He was a hard guy to please, but once you earned his respect, it meant a lot to you,” said a son, Jared Wawryk of Sag Harbor, who followed his father into the restaurant business.

“In the last five years, my father became a man that I genuinely respected,” added a daughter, Lucie Wawryk of New Orleans, who said a major life event had changed her father. “My father was a very complicated man, but absolutely brilliant.”

Mr. Wawryk was born on July 3, 1946, in Brooklyn to Stanley and Elizabeth Wawryk, who predeceased him.  He was also predeceased by a brother, also named Stanley.

The family moved to Sag Harbor when he was a child, and his parents bought Ivan’s Shoe Store, which is in the space now occupied by Sen restaurant.  Mr. Wawryk attended Mercy High School and Southampton College, where studied economics, before embarking on a career on Wall Street that took him to Hong Kong, South Africa, and London, before he returned to Sag Harbor.

Mr. Wawryk is also survived by his wife, Susan Page Wawryk, two other children, Andrew, of Sag Harbor, and Kimberly Tone of Bridgewater, New Jersey;  a brother, James Wawryk of Surprise, Arizona, and a sister,  Betty Wawryk of Virginia, as well as two grandchildren, Jack and Anna Tone.

Visitation will take place at Yardley & Pino Funeral Home in Sag Harbor from 2 to 4 p.m. and 7 to 9 p.m. on Thursday, April 16. A funeral Mass will be offered at St. Andrew’s Catholic Church at 10:30 a.m. on Friday, April 17, with a reception following at Mr. Wawryk’s Main Street restaurant.

The family has asked that memorial donations be made to the Sag Harbor Volunteer Ambulance Corps.

Members of Pierson High School’s 1960-61 basketball team, from left to right, Bob Jacobs, Paul Babcock, Tom Bubka, George Widunas, Tom Anderson and Jack Youngs gather around Coach Ed Petrie.

By Stephen J. Kotz

Ed Petrie, who won more basketball games than any other coach in New York State public high school history during a career that spanned a half century at Pierson and East Hampton high schools, died Sunday at Southampton Hospital. He was 82 years old.

Mr. Petrie, who had played golf with a friend last week and met family members for lunch on Friday, was hospitalized on Saturday with a blood infection that had led to sepsis, his family said.

The family will receive visitors at Yardley and Pino Funeral Home in East Hampton on Thursday, May 28, from 4 to 7 p.m., where friends will have the opportunity to offer their remembrances.

“He was very passionate about making us the best we could be,” said Jack Youngs, a senior point guard on Mr. Petrie’s 1960-61 team at Pierson, which, he said, won the school’s first league title in two decades.  “We weren’t the greatest players in the world,” he said of a team that included George Widunas, Tom Bubka, Bob Jacobs and Paul Babcock, “but as a team we were very good.”

“He was very knowledgeable, his demeanor was very low key. He never raised his voice,” he continued. “He’s the kind of guy when you looked at him you thought ‘This guy is really dynamic. You really wanted to win for him.

During a 52-year coaching career, the first 10 of which were spent in Sag Harbor as head coach at Pierson, before he moved to East Hampton, Mr. Petrie won 754 games before retiring in 2010. He won two state titles, in 1977 and 1989, while at East Hampton, and helped coach Bridgehampton to a state championship in 1979 while East Hampton was on an austerity budget.

Mr. Petrie was inducted into the inaugural East Hampton High School Athletic Hall of Fame in 2012 and was one of the first members inducted into the Hall of Fame at his high school alma mater, F.E. Bellows, in his hometown of Rye, New York. He is also a member of the New York State Baseball Hall of Fame, and the Seton Hall University Hall of Fame, where he starred in the early 1950s, as well as the Suffolk County Hall of Fame.

In 2011, a year after his retirement, East Hampton High School dedicated the floor in its gymnasium to its longtime coach.

“Coach Petrie came to Sag Harbor in 1959 when I was 8 years old and some of my heroes were on the varsity,” said Bob Vacca, who would later star for the Whalers himself.

“It wasn’t long after he got here before every kid virtually had a basket going up in their yard and were bouncing basketballs all over town,” he added, noting that Coach Petrie was instrumental in starting Biddy League basketball to introduce the fundamentals of the game to 8-to-12-year-olds.

The 1967-68 team, on which Mr. Vacca started along with Phil Carney, Paul Benfield, Bobby Karl and Earl Haye, faced a powerhouse Southampton team, led by future NBA player Clarence Walker, in the 1968 overall Suffolk County championship. An estimated 7,000 fans squeezed into the Commack Arena for the game, which was then the pinnacle of high school basketball in the days before a state tournament.

Although the deeper Southampton team pulled away to win in the second half, Mr. Vacca said Pierson’s players knew they had given their best effort.

“I personally don’t know anyone who has had more of a positive effect on more people than Coach Petrie,” he said. “And that trickle down effect is endless because it former players have gone on to become teachers and coaches.”

Mr. Petrie came to Long Island by chance. He was a young physical education teacher at Eli Whitney Tech in Hampton, Connecticut, when he took a class at New Haven State Teachers College. He noticed a job posting on a bulletin board for a physical education teacher and basketball and baseball coach. It turns out the person who had posted the job listing at the request of Pierson’s then-principal, William Crosier, was Robert Vishno, a fifth-grade teacher and the junior varsity basketball coach.

He and Mr. Petrie would become best friends. “It’s a loss to everyone who knew him,” Mr. Vishno said. “He had charisma, he loved the game and he loved to teach it.” Mr. Vishno recalled that once he and Mr. Petrie traveled to the Catskills to hear the legendary UCLA coach John Wooden speak at a clinic. “Johnny Wooden and Eddie Petrie. That’s a pretty good analogy,” he said.

Mr. Petrie moved to East Hampton in 1969 at the request of Carl Johansen, the school’s former basketball coach and by then an administrator. Success followed him. His 1976-77 team, which included future pro Howard Wood and Coach Petrie’s two sons, Michael and Ed, won the state tournament, as did his 1989 team.

It wasn’t hard to play for his father, recalled Ed Petrie. “He treated my brother and me like every other kid on the team,” he said.

“I’ve been fielding calls from former players and friends and they are all crying,” said Coach Petrie’s wife, Donna.

Mr. Petrie was born in White Plains on June 30, 1932, to James and Adele Petrie.

After graduating from F.E. Bellows High School, now Rye Neck High, he attended Seton Hall University, where he was captain of the basketball team. He had a tryout with the New York Knicks before going into teaching and coaching.

Mr. Petrie is survived by his wife, who he knew in high school but met again at their 50^th high school reunion, and his four children from his first marriage, Cindy, Michael, Ed and Mimi Petrie, as well as two grandchildren, Mikey Russell and James Petrie. He was predeceased by two sisters.

James Buttonow, a lifelong resident of Sag Harbor, died at Stony Brook Southampton Hospital on March 14. He was 91.

He was born in Sag Harbor on January 31, 1931, during the Great Depression in a house off Sag Harbor’s Main Street.

He was the son of Joseph Buttonow, a Polish carpenter, and Anna Janesko Buttonow. In 1938, when he was 7, he had to climb over the steeple of the Old Whaler’s Church in order to get home, during the Hurricane of 1938.

In 1965, he began making furniture. He turned old barnwood into sideboards and tables. He also worked as a house painter and calloper and could open a gallon of scallops in an hour. With his brother, Joe, and several other craftsmen, he helped build the large sperm whale for Sag Harbor’s first Whaler’s Festival in 1963. He started carving decoys when he was 9 years old with an uncle, and over the years finely honed his craft.

In 1970, he married his wife, Melanie, and never left her side. He had a profound influence on her, as she did on him. His three great loves were his family, his work and his devoted Llasa Apso mix dog, Holly, who survives him.

In the early 1980s, he carved several decorative birds that remain favorites, including two life-sized Red Tail Hawks and a pair of green-winged teal, which he entered into local competitions, winning many ribbons. He also was the subject of several feature articles in newspapers and magazines, and has a piece displayed in the White House. Buttonow had a style all his own, favoring a lifetime sightings of his eye, rather than strict ornithology.

Buttonow’s legacy lives on in his family and his amazing work.

He is survived by his wife of 51 years, Melanie; two daughters, Tara Brinka of Sag Harbor and Marlena Kappel of Ama, Louisiana; two granddaughters, Jessie Buttonow of upstate New York, and Kristen Bilka of East Patchogue; two great-grandsons, Emryck and Mason Bilka of East Patchogue; and two sons-in-law, Chris Brinka and Todd Kappel; sister JoAnn Buttonow; and brother, Tom Buttonow of Sag Harbor; brother-in-law and sister-in-law, Randy and Melanie Staudinger of Cutchogue.

A prayer service was held at Yardley and Pino Funeral Home on March 17 with Father Peter, and burial was at St. Andrew’s Cemetery with prayers by Father Manuel on March 18.

The post James Buttonow Of Sag Harbor Dies March 14 appeared first on 27 East.

Robert J. Burke, known to many as “Bob,” died at the San Simeon Nursing Home in Greenport on March 25. He was 78 and a resident of Rocky Point, and, before that, Hempstead and Noyac/Sag Harbor.

Burke graduated from Uniondale High School in 1962 and started his extensive construction career as a structural ironworker (Local 40, New York City) continuing with the family contracting company, East Coast Industries, building and modifying many local projects, notably the Salty Dog Restaurant on Noyac Bay (formerly Lenny’s Noyac Casino), the Cooper Bay, Beach Buoy, Burkeshire Associates/Burkeshire Plaza, and several family residences.

During this time, he was employed for 33 years with the Suffolk County Department of Public Works, tending the Westhampton Beach drawbridge.

Survivors said an Irish poet would describe him as a modest man who knew his worth … a loving son, husband, father, family man, honest and known for his integrity, he despised hypocrisy, dishonesty and had a forceful way of expressing his feelings.

Burke is survived by his wife, Barbara (nee Raphael), daughters Colleen Burke and Christine Whaley, grandson Robert Whaley, and great-granddaughter Lillian Whaley.

He is also survived by a brother, the Honorable Edward D. Burke Sr., and wife Carol; sisters Kathleen Burton (Bruce), Sharon Corridan (Dennis) and Theresa Doyle (Seamus); an aunt, Frances Weismantel; and many in-laws, nephews, nieces, cousins within and without the Burke, Burton, Doyle, Corridan and Maddock clans.

Survivors said they are all heartened by the legacy of warmth and kindness his smiles and ability to tell a story that made the day a little brighter and the world a bit gentler.

Burke was predeceased by his parents, Edward J. Burke and Anna (nee’ O’Halloran) Burke, and an uncle, John Burke.

A mass and burial in the family plot at St. Andrew’s Cemetery will be held in Sag Harbor on April 23.

Memorial donations may be sent to the St. Andrew’s Cemetery Perpetual Care Fund.

The post Robert J. Burke, Formerly of Sag Harbor, Dies March 25 appeared first on 27 East.

Helen Patricia Corrigan, 80, of Southampton died on March 27 in Southampton. A visitation will take place Thursday, March 31, 4 to 8 p.m., at the Brockett Funeral Home in Southampton. Funeral mass will be celebrated Friday, April 1, at 10 a.m. at the Basilica Parish of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, followed by interment at Sacred Hearts Cemetery. Full obituary to appear in a future edition.

The post Funeral Mass Planned For Helen Corrigan, 80 appeared first on 27 East.

Starr Boggs, the gregarious restaurateur and chef whose elegant eponymous restaurants were the crown jewel of the dining scene in the Westhampton area through four decades, died at 70 last week — barely a month after selling the last iteration of his eateries.

Boggs was remembered this week by friends and family as the consummate restaurant chef and owner, whose skills in the kitchen were matched by his robust personality. They celebrated his refined palate for both flavors and the character of a new acquaintance, or job applicant.

His passing, a perusal of the hundreds of messages floating through the social media-verse make clear, leaves in its wake a sprawling community of satisfied customers and beloved former employees.

“He didn’t have a family of his own, but he had the biggest family anyone could have,” said Tony Marr, a close longtime friend, whose mother was Boggs’s first restaurant partner on the South Fork. “He would give someone a job and they’d become his family and he would become their family. He was beloved by the whole Westhampton community.”

Boggs never went to culinary school, but learned the craft on the job, honing his skills in the kitchens of restaurants in Virginia and Florida before landing at The Restaurant, in the Inn at Quogue, in 1981. He was 29 years old.

A year later, he partnered with the Inn at Quogue’s owner, Susie McAllister, to open The Patio restaurant on the corner of Main Street and Sunset Avenue in Westhampton Beach.

The first review of the new restaurant by longtime Newsday food critic Peter Gianotti gave the restaurant a simple assessment: “Shining.”

Gianotti remained a fan of Boggs throughout his career, giving his restaurants the top 4-stars rating in each iteration.

“He had a gift, like a great athlete,” his brother, Joe Boggs, said this week. “Lenny Riggio once said to me that Starr had the greatest taste buds there ever was.

“One of the things that always impressed me about his restaurants was how much he loved to teach,” his brother continued. “I’d see little kids who started as busboys and then I’d come back and they’d be managers. And after they went on to distinguished careers, they’d come back over and over just to see him.”

“He taught me about farm-to-table before that was a catchphrase,” said Peter Armellino, who worked in Boggs’s kitchen and is now chef of the Michelin-starred restaurant Plumed Horse in Saratoga, California, in a Facebook message last week. “He took me to my first James Beard dinner, introduced me to French cheese, promoted local food and local wines. He taught me to be a chef. I’m heartbroken.”

Ralph Starr Boggs was born November 9, 1951, to Ralph and Betty Boggs and grew up on a family farm in Onancock, Virginia, on the Eastern Shore, where dinners were made with home-grown vegetables, dairy and meats and oysters and fish gathered from the nearby Chesapeake Bay. His grandmother, Reaston Boggs, taught him to cook and to appreciate the quality of fresh, local ingredients, his brother said.

A superb athlete — he was 6-foot-4 and more than 250 pounds — and an honors student, Boggs attended the prestigious College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, where he played football on a team coached by Lou Holtz, who would go on to national fame at Notre Dame.

It was in Williamsburg that a girlfriend got him interested in restaurants, and he took a job in the kitchen of the historic Williamsburg Inn. After college, he stayed with the restaurant industry and worked for several years at upscale restaurants in West Palm Beach before spending a season on Nantucket.

Marr recalled that his mother, Susie McAllister, was visiting Palm Beach that spring and mentioned to the owner of a restaurant there that she was looking for a talented chef to take over the kitchen at her inn, the Inn at Quogue. Marr said the Florida restaurateur insisted that Boggs was her man. A phone call and an audition, and Boggs had the job.

The next year McAllister and Boggs partnered to open The Patio in downtown Westhampton Beach. Three years later the pair sold the popular restaurant — which remains — and Boggs went out on his own, opening the first location bearing his name a couple of doors down the side street from The Patio, riding the renown the young chef’s culinary talents had already earned the Westhampton area.

In 1992, Boggs moved out of the small digs on Sunset Avenue — the building is now Tony’s Asian Fusion — and to the oceanfront Dune Deck Hotel, where the new Starr Boggs became known as one of the premier fine dining restaurants on the South Fork. In 2004, he returned to downtown, opening a new Starr Boggs in a large Victorian home on Parlato Drive.

“Starr had a philosophy about food: You buy the best ingredients and you take care of them when you cook them,” said Frank Lucas, the longtime chef de cuisine at the Parlato Drive restaurant. “With his staff, he expected them to work hard and to care. You have to care, not just show up. He did and so did they, and he loved them and respected them for it, and they loved him and respected him.”

Starr Boggs is survived by his brother Joe, of Onancock, and his wife Kathy, and their children Ryan, Tucker and Brooke Martin; a sister, Dale Bundick, also of Virginia, and her son Russ Bundick.

Friends said that in addition to his mastery of food and the restaurant industry, Boggs was also a superb golfer who traveled to play courses around the country with a clutch of local friends. He also loved fishing and boating and music.

Health issues had made running the restaurant difficult in recent years, and it was first listed for sale in 2018. Boggs said at the time he wasn’t desperate to sell and would happily continue on if he didn’t find a buyer.

The restaurant finally sold in late February, to Rooted Hospitality Group owners David and Rachel Hersh, who also run Cowfish and Rumba restaurants in Hampton Bays and Flora in Westhampton Beach.

His longtime friend Tony Catanzaro said that people gravitated to Boggs’s orbit, lining up to help him with whatever he had put a mind to and that he quickly would return the generosity of spirit, and that his death would leave a gaping hole in the lives of many Westhamptonites.

“He was so real, no pretense, no bull. He was just genuine, and he was a flawless judge of character and his group of friends. We took care of Starr, and he took care of us,” Catanzaro said. “People loved helping him. It was uncanny. Everybody loved him. I’ve lost my best friend.”

The post Restaurateur Starr Boggs Was A Quasar In Westhampton Community appeared first on 27 East.

Stanley L. Yastrzemski Jr. died at the Embassy of Loyalsock, Pennsylvania, on March 30. He was 78.

He was born in Southampton on October 7, 1943 to Stanley L. and Lottie Yastrzemski.

He graduated from Southampton High School, where he played football, basketball and baseball. He then attended Harvard University with a major in mathematics and continued to play football for the Harvard Crimson. While at Harvard, he attended many Red Sox games watching his cousin YAZ play baseball.

After Harvard, he returned home to begin his career teaching math and computers at Southampton High School. During his summers, he completed his Master’s degree at Rutgers University in New Jersey. While teaching, he coached varsity football as assistant to Herb Goldsmith and JV basketball with varsity coach Joe Romanosky.

He enjoyed playing golf as a member of Southampton Golf Club. He also enjoyed volunteering at Heart of the Hamptons and later at Goodies for the Troops in Wellsboro, Pennsylvania. His passions were sports, walks along the beach, skiing trips with friends, Broadway shows, dinner and movies, crabbing, clamming and a challenging crossword puzzle. His pies, canned goods and baked clams were enjoyed by many. But most of all he carried out a tradition, started by his father, of growing and selling dahlias with his nephew at the little flower stand on Scuttle Hole Road.

Yastrzemski is survived by his “favorite sister” (“only” according to Stanley) Diane Bill and her husband, Cecil of Wellsboro; his niece Robin Helgerson of Water Mill; his nephew, Robert S. Bubka of Water Mill; and his great-nephew, Jarrett Helgerson of Water Mill. Although he never married or had children, his life was full of his wonderful friends and relatives, his family said.

A memorial visitation will be held on Wednesday, April 6, from 4-8 p.m. at O’Connell-Rothwell Funeral Home in Southampton. There will be a funeral mass at Our Lady of Poland Church on Thursday, April 7, at 10 a.m. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to Our Lady of the Hamptons School, 160 North Main Street, Southampton, NY 11968. Condolences may be mailed to Diane and Cecil Bill, 532 Shear Road, Wellsboro, PA 16901.

The post Stanley L. Yastrzemski Jr. Of Southampton Dies March 30 appeared first on 27 East.