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For Mary Mulholland

For Mary Mulholland

By
Star Staff

Visiting hours for Mary H. Mulholland will be this evening from 6 to 9 at the Yardley and Pino Funeral Home in East Hampton. A funeral Mass will be said tomorrow at 11 a.m. at Most Holy Trinity Catholic Church in East Hampton.

Ms. Mulholland, an artist and nurse who lived in the Springs and Amagansett area for many years, died at home on Monday. An obituary will appear in a future issue.

S. Ashby Grantham, M.D.

S. Ashby Grantham, M.D.

Oct. 22, 1930 - Sept. 19, 2016
By
Star Staff

S. Ashby Grantham, an orthopedic surgeon at what is now New York/Presbyterian Hospital and a professor at Columbia University Medical Center, died on Sept. 19 in Southampton. He was 85 had had been ill for two years.

Dr. Grantham, who lived in Saga­ponack and Englewood, N.J., was a trauma surgeon for more than 40 years. He had served as president of the American Society for Surgery of the Hand, and in 1966 was chosen as one of seven surgeons from six countries named an ABC Traveling Fellow.

He was born in Minneapolis on Oct. 22, 1930, to Samuel Grantham, M.D., and the former Janet McDougal. He grew up in the small town of Joplin, Mo., across the street from his grandfather, who also was a doctor.

He lived in New Orleans during World War II, where his father was stationed with the Navy. He later moved to Claremont, Calif., returning to Joplin, where he graduated from high school with the class of 1948. He earned a Bachelor of Arts at Washington University in St. Louis in 1952, and went to Washington University Medical School. Upon graduation, he became an intern at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital and then was a resident for a highly esteemed orthopedic surgeon, Frank E. Stinchfield.

Dr. Grantham was also the physician at the marine base camp, Camp Lejeune, in North Carolina in 1962 and ’63.

Dr. Grantham was married first to Priscilla Dudley, with whom he had four children. He later married Patricia DeCarlo, who had been a member of the Rockettes. Their marriage took place in Rome and their reception was attended by the city’s mayor as well as Amintore Fanfani, the president of Italy, who was Dr. Grantham’s patient and friend. They had one daughter, Victoria.

Dr. Grantham retired in 2001. He supported his wife’s fitness business, Summer Kicks, on Railroad Avenue in East Hampton, and enjoyed making friends with its instructors. He also enjoyed the theater, fishing, painting, and his five  be­loved dogs.

Dr. Grantham is survived by his five children, Chris Grantham and Jon Grantham of Bronxville, N.Y., Wendy Hotz of LaPorte, Tex., Hillary Grantham of Albion, N.Y., and Victoria Grantham, who lives in New York City. Patricia, his wife of 50 years, survives, as well, as do eight grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.

The family has invited friends to a memorial service on the beach at the end of Town Line Road in Sagaponack at 4 p.m. on Saturday.

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Corrections: The original print and online version of this obituary contained a number of errors corrected above. Dr. Grantham was S. Ashby Grantham. He died in Southampton, but not at Southampton Hospital. Victoria Grantham was his daughter with his second wife, Patricia. The original version of the obituary identified Ms. Grantham as her daughter, but did not clarify that she was also the daughter of Dr. Grantham.

Joseph Rigano, 80

Joseph Rigano, 80

Dec. 9, 1935 - Sept.14. 2016
By
Star Staff

Joseph Rigano of Montauk, who was known as Jay, died on Saturday at the Kanas Center for Hospice Care in Quiogue. He was 80 and had been ill with cancer.

Mr. Rigano discovered Montauk while fishing with his uncles and later became a charter boat captain, operating the Lori-Jay from the Star Island Marina.

A longtime resident of Mamaroneck, N.Y., he was born not far away in Larchmont, on, one of seven children of Joseph Rigano and the former Norah Donovan. He was a star football player at Archbishop Stepinac High School in White Plains, but had to pass up the full scholarship he was offered at Michigan StaDec. 9, 1935te University to go to work in his father’s plumbing business after the senior Mr. Rigano died unexpectedly. Later on he started his own plumbing business, Rigano Plumbing and Heating, in Mamaroneck, and ran it successfully until 1991, when he sold it and moved full time to Montauk.

In 1957 Mr. Rigano married Lori Rodrigues, who survives. Their four children are Janine Rigano of Beachwood, Ohio; Denise Rigano of Norwalk, Conn.; Lori Dryer of Montauk and Chatham, N.J., and Linda Rigano-Steinberg of Scarsdale, N.Y. Two sons, Joseph and Andrew Rigano, predeceased him.

He is also survived by nine grandchildren, 24 nieces and nephews, and all six of his siblings: Hayward Rigano and Myan Sorensen of Colorado, Ellen McHugh of California, Meg Phillips of Florida, Bourne Rigano of New York City, and Noreen Whyte of Connecticut.

The family has suggested donations in his memory to East End Hospice, P.O. Box 1048, Westhampton Beach 11978, or to U.S.O. Warrior and Family Centers, Att. Donor Services, 2111 Wilson Boulevard, Suite 1200, Arlington, Va. 22201.

Correction: The Kanas Center for Hospice Care is located in Quiogue, not Westhampton Beach, though the East End Hospice office is in Westhampton Beach. 

Bernard Pollock, 96, Stage Manager

Bernard Pollock, 96, Stage Manager

May 16, 1920 - Sept. 14, 2016
By
Star Staff

Bernard Pollock, an actor and stage manager on Broadway who divided his time between New York City and East Hampton, died in Manhattan on Sept. 14 after a long illness. He was 96.

Mr. Pollock had been a child actor on the radio program known as “The Horn and Hardart Children’s Hour” in his hometown of Philadelphia and followed the theater for the rest of his active life. After moving to New York as a young man, he attended the American Academy of Dramatic Arts while supporting himself as a night clerk in hotels and in the box office of dance halls, including Roseland, where he sold “dime a dance” tickets.

He found success on Broadway as a stage manager rather than an actor, however, for such plays as “The Odd Couple,” with Walter Matthau and Art Carney, “Will Rogers’s U.S.A.” with James Whitmore, “Norman, Is That You?” a play that was later made into a movie, “Sweet Bird of Youth” with Geraldine Page, “Stop the World — I Want to Get Off” with Sammy Davis Jr., and many more. He also had a small role in “Network,” a 1976 film written by Paddy Chayefsky and directed by Sidney Lumet.

In 1960, when he was the stage manager of Brendan Behan’s play “The Hostage,” he met Beulah Garrick, an actress who was in the cast. They married in 1961.

During his theater career, Mr. Pollock was a member of Actors’ Equity and the Screen Actors Guild. He also was an active member of the Players Club, telling his peers that he had gotten invaluable experience at the Robert Porterfield Barter Theatre in Abingdon, Va.

He was born on May 16, 1920, in Philadelphia to David Polak and the former Sara Fine. His parents and a brother and sister died before him.

After serving in World War II as an Army Air Corps radio operator on seaplanes patrolling the North Sea, Mr. Pollock took advantage of the G.I. Bill of Rights to attend well-known language schools in Paris and Rome, becoming proficient enough to impress Parisian and Roman waiters when he later traveled in Europe with his wife.

The couple built a house in Northwest Woods in East Hampton, taking up residence in 1968. When he was no longer quite himself, Ms. Garrick said, he would sit at the back of the house, which they called the English cottage, and gaze at his wife’s garden. He said to her toward the end of his life, “Honey, you have created for us such a paradise.”

They entertained a lot, celebrating Christmas and Boxing Day with a wide circle of friends. “Oh, such glorious memories of those years,” Ms. Garrick said. They supported environmental causes and, in addition to reading The New York Times cover to cover and The East Hampton Star, Mr. Pollock spent time walking and watching birds. He loved swimming in the ocean, Ms. Garrick said, adding, “He was like a dolphin in the water, very graceful.”

Mr. Pollock was also passionate about traveling. He and Ms. Garrick traveled to England often, to see her family, as well as to China, East Africa, and Europe. “He was a wonderfully good husband, a fine man,” Ms. Garrick said. “I could not have asked for a better companion.”

In addition to Ms. Garrick, who continues to live here and in the city, Mr. Pollock is survived by three nephews. A celebration of his life will be held in New York at a later date.

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Jay Bennett, 60, Church Organist

Jay Bennett, 60, Church Organist

Dec. 8, 1955 - Sept. 25, 2016
By
Star Staff

John Bennett, a retired music teacher who taught at many schools on the South Fork and was the organist at Most Holy Trinity Catholic Church in East Hampton for nearly 30 years, died at Southampton Hospital on Sunday after suffering a heart attack at his house in Springs. He was 60 years old.

“He had the most gorgeous tenor voice,” said his wife, Shelley Bennett, an alto whom he met in the 1980s while they were singing with the Choral Society of the Hamptons. An aficionado of classical and sacred music as well as Broadway show tunes, he touched many through music, whether playing at weddings and funerals, confirmations and communions, or community productions.

Mr. Bennett, who was known as Jay, instilled his deep love of music into his countless students. During his 30-year career, he taught at Amagansett, Wainscott, Sagaponack, Pierson, Tuckahoe, Eastport, and Stella Maris Schools. His last position was at the Bridgehampton School in 2012. His wife said she had heard from many of his students since his passing.

Born on Dec. 8, 1955, he was a Springs Bonacker on his father’s side, the only child of Melvin Bennett and the former Karin Forest, a Norwegian immigrant who came here through Ellis Island. He grew up in Springs, graduated East Hampton High School in 1974, and continued his studies at Concord College in Athens, W.Va., receiving a bachelor’s in vocal performance and music education. He later earned a master’s in elementary education from Dowling College.

He married the former Shelley Dawley on Oct. 7, 1989. The couple, who always enjoyed singing together, were Victorian carolers in Southampton Village at Christmastime for many years. He also served as the musical director for several productions of the Springs Community Theater and the Southampton Players.

The couple had two children, Kristofer Bennett and Courtney Bennett, both of Springs. As a family, they loved to travel. One memorable trip was a visit last year to relatives in Norway, his wife said. His Norwegian heritage meant a lot to him, she said: At dinner, he always said a Norwegian prayer that his grandparents and his mother had passed down to him.

In addition to his wife and children, Mr. Bennett is survived by a host of extended family. His parents predeceased him.

Visitation will be held today at the Yardley and Pino Funeral Home in East Hampton from 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 p.m. Funeral services will be tomorrow at 11 a.m. at the Southampton Presbyterian Church, where his wife works. The Rev. Richard Boyer will officiate with the assistance of the Rev. Donald Hansen of Most Holy Trinity Catholic Church in East Hampton. 

Memorial donations may be made to the Dominican Sisters Family Health Services, P.O. Box 1028, Hampton Bays 11946, where Mr. Bennett had worked for the past several years as a customer service representative.

Carroll Wainwright Jr., Lawyer and Sportsman

Carroll Wainwright Jr., Lawyer and Sportsman

Dec. 28, 1925 - Sept. 26, 2016
By
Star Staff

Carroll Livingston Wainwright Jr., a former attorney for the Rockefellers and volunteer for many nonprofit organizations, died at home in East Hampton on Sept. 26. He was 90 years old and had been in declining health.

Except for a brief stint as assistant general counsel to Gov. Nelson Rockefeller from 1959 to 1960, Mr. Wainwright, who was known as Sonny, spent almost his entire career at the firm of Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy. He became a partner there in 1963, focusing on trusts, estates, and not-for-profit institutions, and was heavily involved in Rockefeller family interests, including the Rockefeller Group’s sale of Rockefeller Center in 1989. He also counted among his clients the American Museum of Natural History, Cooper Union, Vassar College, the New York Community Trust, and the Episcopal Church Pension Group.

Mr. Wainwright was born in New York on Dec. 28, 1925, to Carroll L. Wainwright and the former Edith Gould, and grew up there and on West End Road in East Hampton, where his parents had built a house they called Gullcrest. At the age of 8, living in Bermuda at the time, he stowed away on a cruise ship, the Queen of Bermuda, to sail to the U.S. According to his son D. Walker Wainwright, the boy longed for the life his older brother was living at a school in New York. He eventually attended the Malcolm Gordon School in Garrison, N.Y., and St. Paul’s School in Concord, N.H.

In 1942, he lied about his age to join the Marine Corps and trained to fly Grumman F4-U planes, though World War II ended before he saw combat. He was discharged from the Marines as a first lieutenant and married Nina Walker in East Hampton in 1948, graduating from Yale College the year after and from Harvard Law School in 1952.

Over the course of his career, Mr. Wainwright volunteered with many organizations. He chaired the board of trustees of the Boys Club of New York from 1986 to 1994 and was a trustee of the American Museum of Natural History from 1968 to 1994, of Cooper Union from 1970 to 1995, and of the U.S. Trust Company from 1981 to 1998.

He also served on the board of the Edward John Noble Foundation, the Yale University Council, and the Greater Yellowstone Coalition, for which he was instrumental, despite owning a cattle ranch, in reintroducing wolves to the region. He often visited the ranch, in the Centennial Valley of Montana.

He was a vestryman of Trinity Church on Wall Street in Manhattan and of St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in East Hampton, and was the treasurer and vice president of the New York City Bar Association for a time. He was also an adjunct professor at Washington and Lee University’s School of Law, and a member of the New York State Commission on Judicial Conduct from 1974 to 1983. One Bar Association colleague said his service was “characterized by the sense of decency he brought” to his work.

In New York, Mr. Wainwright was president of the Down Town Association from 1985 to 1992. In East Hampton, where he had lived full time since 2000, he was president of the Maidstone Club from 1970 to 1973. A skilled squash player, fisherman, and duck hunter who kept himself in tiptop physical condition, he was known to walk up 44 stories to his office at Chase Manhattan Plaza to prepare for hiking and climbing vacations.

In addition to his wife of 68 years and his son Walker, who lives in East Hampton, he leaves another son, Mark L. Wainwright of Los Gatos, Calif., four grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren.

A memorial service will be held on Friday, Oct. 7, at 11 a.m. at St. Luke’s Church in East Hampton. Memorial donations have been suggested for the Boys Club of New York, online at bcny.org.

John Wegorzewski, Publicist Was 66

John Wegorzewski, Publicist Was 66

July 25, 1950 - Sept. 11, 2016
By
Star Staff

John Stanislaus Wegorzewski, an arts and entertainment publicist in Manhattan and on the East End, died on Sept. 11 at New York University Langone Medical Center of complications from cancer. He was 66.

Mr. Wegorzewski and Edward Callaghan, his life and business partner, who died in April 2015, were familiar figures at museums, galleries, art fairs, and fund-raising events on the East End for many years. Together they founded Alchimia Public Relations and Marketing in 2000. Mr. Wegorzewski lived in Manhattan and Southampton.

“While he was successful in many endeavors in life, including sales, jewelry and watch design, fashion, and the arts, his true calling and passion was publicity, which he loved and excelled at with his partner, Edward Callaghan,” M. Corey Goldman, his nephew, said. “If Ed could write it, John could pitch it and sell it — with his infectious smile, booming laugh, Old World charm, and unique ability to connect with everyone in a personal way.”

Mr. Wegorzewski was born in Toronto on July 25, 1950, to John Wegorzewski and the former Mary Rajca, who were married on Oct. 22, 1949. His mother, who is 97, survives him; his father died in 2003.

After attending York University in Toronto, Mr. Wegorzewski began his career in sales. His work in high-end jewelry and watch design brought him to Manhattan.

In addition to his mother, a daughter, Alicia Cambreleng of Orlando, Fla., and three sisters, Rozia Kril, Kristine Goldman, and Maria Wegorzewski-Grotek, his twin, all of whom live in Toronto, survive him. A fourth sister, Elizabeth DiCecco, predeceased him.

“John’s greatest gift,” Mr. Goldman said, “was his huge, loving, and caring heart, with which he touched literally thousands of people — from the East End and New York to Toronto, San Francisco, Hong Kong, and beyond. Uncle Johnny will be greatly missed and not forgotten.”

Mr. Wegorzewski was a member of St. Stanislaus Kostka Church in Toronto and the Roman Catholic Parish of Our Saviour in Manhattan. He was cremated, and his family is coordinating a burial in Toronto. A memorial Mass will be said on Oct. 17 at 10 a.m. at the Basilica of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary in Southampton.

Kirk White, 90, Interior Designer

Kirk White, 90, Interior Designer

April 2, 1926 - Sept. 17, 2016
By
Star Staff

Kirk White, an interior designer who had a long and illustrious career, initiating the “Room of the Month” window of the W & J Sloane rug and furniture store in Manhattan and designing a complete house inside the store, died at home at Bayberry Close in East Hampton Village on Saturday at the age of 90.

Born Austin Newkirk White II on April 2, 1926, in Pasadena, Calif., to Genevieve Margaret White and Wells Newkirk White, he  spent his youth in Manhattan Beach, Calif., where the family lived in a beachfront house. His father shortened the family name in the early 1930s.

Mr.  White had enlisted as an aviation cadet in the Air Corps upon graduating from Redondo (Calif.) Union High School, and was recalled in 1950, serving as a statistical specialist with the 452nd Bomber Group in Japan and then Korea.

 In between, he studied architecture at the University of California at Berkeley. He also studied interior design in Los Angeles at the Chouinard Art Institute before going abroad in 1948 to continue architecture study at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts of Fontainebleau. Then came a grand tour of France, Italy, England, and Scotland.

Returning to the states, he settled in Beverly Hills, where he went to work for Robert Hanley Associates and John Woolf Architects. He then worked in San Francisco for the contemporary design firm of Robert M. Kasper as well as Neel D. Parker and Company.

After opening his own studio in San Francisco, his work was noticed by W & J Sloane, which hired him first to oversee its main downtown store and Northern California branches as director of display and design. After a year, he was promoted to head the firm’s New York City studio, which included 25 designers, a four-man drafting room, and others. Mr. White also designed model apartments for the Tishman Construction Company in New York, which were covered in national magazines and books.

It was in New York City during this period that he met and married Barbara D’Arcy, who was, according to this newspaper, “a powerhouse in the decorating field.” They married on April 30, 1966, at the Church of Our Savior on Park Avenue, with a reception at the St. Regis Hotel. After a trip to Bermuda, they lived in Manhattan and found a weekend retreat on Terbell Lane in East Hampton. They remodeled the house and enjoyed it for 40 years, after which they sold it and moved to Bayberry Close. Mrs. White died in 2012.

Besides design, cars were a great interest. His father, who was in the car business in Los Angeles, had given him a Ford Model A convertible for his 16th birthday and, every year after that, he gave him a newer convertible. For getting his first job in Beverly Hills, his father gave him a Cadillac Fleetwood sedan. One of his favorite cars to drive in East Hampton was the couple’s 1960 Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud. He also liked motorcycles, starting with a Triumph Bonneville and progressing to “full-dress” Harley-Davidsons, and finally to custom-built choppers. For his 70th birthday, he gave himself a Harley-Davidson Sportster 1200 that he customized.

In Manhattan, after leaving W & J Sloane, Mr. White became director of design for Medallion Ltd. and Richard Carleton Ltd. In 1972, he was hired as director of design by Directional Industries, a position followed by heading design for the Sperry and Hutchinson Company’s furniture divisions.

Continuing in the path Mr. White had taken in his youth, the Whites traveled for business and pleasure, counting 94 countries, including Syria and Libya, among their destinations. Their design work often took them to cities such as Mumbai and Rome, which they could enjoy apart from work. Mr. White retired in 2005 after having worked in private practice here for Norman Mercer, Lee Eastman, and Leonard Ackerman.

Mrs. White was buried in the Memorial Garden of St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in East Hampton, where Mr. White also will be buried. Friends and family were invited to visit at the Frank Campbell Funeral Chapel on Madison Avenue and 81st Street in New York City yesterday. A funeral service is to be held at St. Luke’s today at 11 a.m., followed by a reception in its Great Hall. Donations have been suggested to St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, 18 James Lane, East Hampton 11937.

Mr. White is survived by a sister, Winifred Helen Lindsay of Fallbrook, Calif., a cousin, and many nieces and nephews, great-nieces and great-nephews, as well as one great-great-nephew.

Kate Wyckoff-Holmes

Kate Wyckoff-Holmes

June 28, 1931 - Aug. 30, 2016
By
Star Staff

Kate Morgan Wyckoff-Holmes, an artist who lived in Sag Harbor for many years and who specialized in garden design, died at home in Key West, Fla., on Aug. 30. Ms. Wyckoff-Holms was 85 and had cancer.

She was a brilliant painter, said her husband, Samuel S. Holmes, and through designing gardens, she was able to put her talents to work on a larger scale, using nature’s palette.

Her firm, Beach Plum Gardens, which she founded in 1982, designed numerous Sag Harbor gardens, including those of Thomas Harris, author of “Silence of the Lambs.” She also designed the horticultural displays at the graves of the ballet greats George Balanchine and Alexandra Danilova in Sag Harbor’s Oakland Cemetery. 

Born in Manhattan to Watson Wyckoff and Kate Morgan on June 28, 1931, she grew up in Manhattan and in Sharon, Conn.

She attended the University of Colorado before obtaining her Bachelor of Sciences degree from Brooklyn College. At one point, she moved to California to study art, her son, Peter Wyckoff, said yesterday.

Cooking and entertaining were passions for her. She studied cooking with Dione Lucas, and had a collection of over 150 cookbooks. The barbecue was an important place to her, and she loved grilling and smoking meats, including whole turkeys.

She also studied at the New York Botanical Garden, where the seed was planted that grew into her life’s passion — designing gardens, essentially painting in flowers. Some of her designs in the city included a neighborhood park in the Bronx and the garden of the China Institute. She primarily designed gardens on city terraces.

She loved sailing, and kept a 25-foot sailboat at a marina in Larchmont, from which she would sail across Long Island Sound and into the Atlantic off Martha’s Vineyard and Block Island.

Her first marriage, in the 1960s, ended in divorce. In the early 1980s, after her son graduated from high school and began college, she moved to Sag Harbor. She was a member of the Friends of John Jermain Memorial Library. In 1999 she married Mr. Holmes, a retired National Park ranger. They lived on the Bridgehampton-Sag Harbor Turnpike, but moved to Key West about five years ago.

Mr. Holmes and her son both live in Key West.

Ms. Wyckof-Holmes asked that her body be donated to science and then cremated. Her ashes will be buried in Oakland Cemetery at a future date.

Donations have been suggested to Planned Parenthood, found online at plannedparenthood.org.

For Joy Mayfield

For Joy Mayfield

By
Star Staff

A memorial for Joy Mayfield, a former East Hampton resident who died on July 11, will be held on Saturday from 12:30 to 2:30 p.m. at the Hayground School in Bridgehampton.