Obituaries

When William J. Davis was a student at DeWitt Clinton High School in the Bronx in the 1940s, his shop teacher "suggested to him early on that, as he was not that good with his hands, he had better study hard and learn something else," his wife, Georgia Hinde, recalled. "He did just that, and he did it very well." It was a story that Mr. Davis, who would go on to become a New York State Supreme Court justice, told often.

Word has reached The Star that Harry Striebel, a fashion designer who lived in East Hampton for many years, died on Oct. 19 in Delray Beach, Fla., after a five-year illness. He was 84 and had chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Barbara H. Rothstein, a preschool and English teacher, died of heart failure on Friday at home in Cambridge, Mass. The former East Hampton and Montauk resident was 92.

From an early age, Brian Kenneth Russell had a curiosity and love for science, animals, and the outdoors, and could often be found watching National Geographic or the Discovery Channel on television. He loved looking through microscopes, and by the time he was in the seventh grade he was a junior-certified scuba diver.

Irving Markowitz, formerly of East Hampton, died on May 14 in Rockville, Md.

Sharon S. Rack, the head of custodial workers for East Hampton Town, died of heart failure on Monday at Stony Brook Southampton Hospital. The East Hampton native was 70 and had been ill for a month.

Carole Ann George, familiar here from her jobs at the I.G.A. markets in Amagansett and East Hampton, died of cardiac arrest at Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center in Richmond, Va., on March 8. She was 73 and had been ill for two years.

Alec Petroulias, an electrical engineer who worked on the Apollo space program in the 1960s, died of heart failure and cancer on April 10 at home in East Hampton. He was 91, and had been briefly ill. 

Joyce Hayes Whitman was proud to be a part of the Montauk community, which she demonstrated in her extensive volunteer work with the Montauk Library. She read stories to children for nearly 20 years -- before there was a children's librarian there -- and held nearly every board position at one time or another with the Friends of the Montauk Library.

Pat Lillis of East Hampton died at home on April 23. She was 70. An obituary will appear in a future issue.

When David A. Merrill "was making people laugh, he could keep the riotous mayhem going until your sides ached," his family wrote. "He truly shined in those moments." 

As word of Henry Craig Benzenberg's death reached his former East Hampton High School classmates last month, they remembered him as kind, funny, and "a great guy." 

Michael J. Finazzo, who pushed for affordable housing when he was an East Hampton Town councilman in the early 1980s, sold insurance, captained sportfishing boats, and coordinated for 20 years the hamlet's popular St. Patrick's Day parade, died in Boca Raton, Fla., on April 15 at the age of 72.

Susan Metzger's career was in the world of film. She was a story editor and a unit publicist, a liaison between the set and the outside world, working both independently and for Paramount Pictures.

Terry Stratton Miller, an 11th-generation member of the Springs Miller family, grew up in the close community of Millers in the Springs-Fireplace Road neighborhood surrounding the family farm, once the largest working farm in the area.

After graduating from U.C.L.A., where he majored in philosophy, Alvin Novak moved to New York in 1957 with no intention of becoming a professional musician, despite having been a precocious pianist as a child. Things took a turn, however, when he resumed his piano studies and was encouraged by Arthur Gold and Robert Fizdale, a well-known American two-piano ensemble.

Anne Newbery, 87, of South Debusy Road in Montauk died at South Shore University Hospital in Bay Shore on April 12. An obituary will appear in a future issue.

Adam Lewis, who served briefly as assisting clergy at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in East Hampton, was a man of many talents and accomplishments. An Episcopal rector for nearly three decades, he left parish ministry to study at the Parsons School of Design and establish an interior decorating practice that remained active until two years ago.

Bernard Ray, a 15-year member of the Montauk Fire Department and a veteran of the United States Navy, was "a kind and caring person with both people and animals," his wife said. He died at home in Montauk on April 5 of complications of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

A funeral for R. Alice Johnson will be held on Wednesday at 11 a.m. at St. Michael's Lutheran Church in Amagansett. The 94-year-old East Hampton resident died on Friday in Southampton. An obituary will appear in a future issue.

Reggie Jackson was an early mountain bike enthusiast whose love of the sport was sparked at BikeHampton in Amagansett, where he worked in the mid-1970s. He "elevated the welding of bicycles into an art form," his family said. He died of sudden complications from a spinal chord injury sustained during an October mountain biking accident in California that left him almost completely paralyzed.

Constance Clarke Greene came to writing honestly. Her grandfather Arthur L. Clarke was the first managing editor of The Daily News, and her father, Richard W. Clarke, held the same position until he retired in 1968. Ms. Clarke worked as a reporter for the Associated Press during World War II before marrying, raising five children, and embarking on a career as a prolific author of children's books.

June Alice Kaplan of East Hampton, a painter and poet, died in her sleep on April 7 at her mother's home in New York City. She was 69.

James Mason was known to ride his bicycle from his home in Springs to his job in Bridgehampton at the Long Island Lighting Company yard, where he worked for more than four decades until 1996. The first-class electrical lineman and foreman continued his rides even after he moved to Hampton Bays.

Cycling wasn't his only hobby -- he sang with the Whalers Barbershop Chorus for several years in the early 1960s and loved sailing out of Three Mile Harbor into Gardiner's Bay and beyond on his boat, the Song of Joy.

Walter J. Thomason of East Hampton worked for 31 years with the Suffolk County Department of Public Works, but in his spare time, he pursued many interests. At various points in his life he raised and showed prize bantam chickens, raced homing pigeons, took up fly-fishing, photography, and wildlife caretaking, and volunteered at the South Fork Natural History Museum and Nature Center.

The daughter of two "hard-working immigrant parents," Dorothy Rose Carew of Montauk and East Hampton "knew the value of hard work," her family said, and it was "hard work and determination" that helped her graduate as a registered nurse from Kings County Hospital School of Nursing.

"Always thoughtful," Florence M. Kirch "never forgot to acknowledge an important date for family and friends. And with her warmth and easy smile, she made lifelong friends wherever she went, which made for a packed calendar," her family wrote.

James Mason of Hampton Bays, formerly of Springs, died on March 16 at home of complications resulting from cardiac amyloidosis. He was 84.

His wife, Carol D. Mason, and his three children, Janet C. Fanning of Hilton Head, S.C., Elizabeth R. McGuire of Johns Island, S.C., and Fiona M. McKinney of Albany, survive, as well as two stepchildren, Andrew LoMonaco and Christopher LoMonaco, both of Hampton Bays, seven grandchildren, two step-grandchildren, three great-grandchildren, and a sister, Jean Clappi Davis of California.

An obituary will appear in a future issue.

Reginald Jackson, 58, formerly of Amagansett, died in San Francisco on Tuesday from complications following a bicycle accident in October. He is the son of Jaki Jackson of Amagansett. A full obituary will appear in a future issue.

He was a driving force in the evolution of Gosman's Dock from a tiny chowder shack on Montauk Harbor to a sprawling complex of restaurants, shops, and wholesale and retail fish markets that has become synonymous with the hamlet. Mr. Gosman died on Saturday at Stony Brook Southampton Hospital of cardiopulmonary arrest resulting from Covid-19 pneumonia.