Robert Edmund Wilson III, a professional sailor and yacht broker, died of heart failure and complications from chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder at his home in Beaufort, N.C., on July 21. The former Amagansett resident, who was 73, had been ill for three years.
Born in Southampton on March 19, 1946, to the former Helen Schellinger and Robert Edmund Wilson Jr., he spent part of his childhood in Amagansett’s Jonathan Schellinger House (“the old red house,” as it was then known), which, like Miss Amelia’s Cottage today, was part of the Schellinger Farm property. When he was about 10 years old, he and other Schellinger cousins took part in the last Montauk-to-East Hampton livestock roundup, riding his horse, Rusty. The cousins spent weekends working on their uncle George Schellinger’s farm in Sag Harbor.
After graduating from East Hampton High School, where he played football, basketball, golf, and tennis, Mr. Wilson attended Ithaca (N.Y.) College and Parsons College in Iowa, where he competed in motocross races. After college, he returned to East Hampton and bought Vetault Florist, the Newtown Lane shop that is now Wittendale’s. He owned it until 1979.
He then opened a store that sold rain gear on the dock in Sag Harbor, where he met Bruce Tait, the owner of Tait’s Yachts there, and began delivering yachts to the company’s customers. His interest in sailing grew from there. He went on to compete in sailboat races, and was chosen to be a crew member on the yacht Tenacious, which was owned by Ted Turner, the media magnate. With 302 other boats, the yacht competed in the biennial race called Fastnet, around the Isles of Scully in England, in 1979. A fierce storm came up on the third day of the race and wreaked havoc on the fleet; 19 people died.
Mr. Wilson’s marriage to Gail Scully ended in divorce. In 1983, when he was the captain of a courtesy yacht for a British syndicate during the America’s Cup races in Newport, R.I., he met Dorothy (Dorie) Devnew, whom he would later marry.
The couple moved to Saint Thomas, in the U.S. Virgin Islands, where they ran a business chartering yachts sailing in the Caribbean. Later, they brought private motor yachts from Northeast Harbor, Me., to Key West, Fla. The last such yacht they captained full-time was the Jonathan III, owned by the New York real estate mogul Samuel J. LeFrak.
In 1993, the couple moved to Beaufort, where Mr. Wilson worked as a yacht broker. He later began varnishing and painting old sailboats, using the “roll and tip” technique, which left a glass-like finish. Through the years, he also built model boats, each of which, said his wife, took a year to complete. He had three beloved pets, his dogs Babe, Daisy May, and a cat, Tiger Lily.
An accomplished golfer, he started the O’ Danny Boy golf tournament in Beaufort, which has raised thousands of dollars for medical clinics and people who need help paying medical bills.
Mr. Wilson, who had been a member of the Amagansett Presbyterian Church, is survived by his wife and several cousins. A memorial service will be held on the upper deck of the Dock House restaurant in Beaufort at 4 p.m. on Sept. 8, with a graveside service at Oak Grove Cemetery in Amagansett on Sept. 22 at 1 p.m.
The family has suggested memorial contributions to the Carteret Humane Society, 853 Hibbs Road, Newport, N.C. 28570.
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Correction: An earlier version of this obituary gave an incorrect date for the graveside service in Amagansett. It will take place on Sept. 22. In addition, the name of the last private motor yacht Mr. Wilson and his wife had captained full time was incorrect. It was the Jonathan III, not the Jonathan II.