A memorial Mass for Mary Jane Coy Osborne, who died on March 30, will be celebrated on Saturday at 10:30 a.m. at Most Holy Trinity Catholic Church in East Hampton. Burial of ashes will follow at Most Holy Trinity Cemetery on Cedar Street.
A memorial service Lisa Ward, who died on Feb. 5, will be held on Saturday at 1 p.m. at the Montauk Community Church.
The most important thing in Andrew Bonertz’s life was being a father to his son, Miller Joseph Bonertz. He nicknamed his boy Bubba and taught him how to blow raspberries and dance, bouncing up and down to all his favorite tunes. Miller, who will turn 1 next Thursday, brought so much joy to his father’s life in such a short period of time.
Mr. Bonertz died on June 15 in Hartford, Conn., from an accidental overdose. He was 28.
His family remembered him this week as “a kind and caring soul,” who had a protective instinct and stood up to bullies. “He always watched out for his family,” they said.
“There was a soundtrack to Andrew’s life, and it was always playing. No matter what he was doing, there was a carefully curated song to go along with it,” his partner, Leigh Goodstein, said. His favorite artists ranged from Waylon Jennings to Macklemore.
Mr. Bonertz was born on Oct. 25, 1989, at Scott Air Force Base in Belleville, Ill. His father, Joseph Bonertz, was in the Air Force and he followed him around as a boy trying to learn anything he could, from changing oil to fixing go-karts, earning him the nickname Little Man. By the age of 7, he had even flown a plane, his family said.
Even as a child, he was a gentleman who always helped out, from opening doors to carrying groceries. He enjoyed Boy Scouts and earned an Arrow of Light award, which now hangs in his son’s room. He had no fear and would try anything. As he grew, he learned to skateboard, something he continued to enjoy as an adult. In high school he joined the ski club and learned to snowboard. He graduated from East Hampton High School in Connecticut in 2008.
He was remembered this week as intelligent and as a history buff — particularly of World War II. He would voraciously consume any Ken Burns documentary, often staying up all night watching war footage. His own history was important to him, too. He decorated the walls of his bedroom with old photos of East Hampton, Conn., where he grew up. “He had a story for every corner and every back road, and loved driving aimlessly for hours, reminiscing about his childhood and all the people who populated his life,” his family said.
He lived in Nebraska, where his family was from, for three years during his childhood, and he always felt at home there. He spoke fondly of the Midwest and was proud of the values he drew from the simple life he loved there.
Mr. Bonertz moved to East Hampton in 2016 and built a simple life here, too. He enjoyed time with his young family, which included two dogs, Joey and Frank, that he loved playing with. He loved the beach; Indian Wells in Amagansett and the bay beach at the end of Springs-Fireplace Road were his favorites. “We used to drive down every morning, ‘To see if it was still there,’ he would say,” Ms. Goodstein recalled.
He spent many nights sitting on the back deck looking up at the stars. He also couldn’t get enough New York pizza, trying every pizza place from Montauk to Southampton. He settled on Pepperoni’s in East Hampton as his favorite, with Luigi’s a very close second.
He worked at the Clam Bar on Napeague as a cook, and expressed himself through art, mostly designing his own tattoos, which he would sometimes have professionally done and sometimes tattoo on himself. Being right-handed, this resulted in a lot of tattoos on his left side, but each had a special meaning. The recent addition of a large wolf tattoo on his hand represented overcoming adversity, he told his family.
In addition to Ms. Goodstein and their son, he is survived by his parents, Joseph and Susan Bonertz, and his sister, Ashely Bonertz, all of East Hampton, Conn., and a younger brother, Brandyn Bonertz of Avon, Conn. His grandmothers, Mary Ann Bonertz of Menominee, Neb., and Marilyn Kinzel of East Haddam, Conn., survive, as do a host of aunts, uncles, cousins, and a nephew.
A prayer service was held on Tuesday at the Spencer Funeral Home in East Hampton, Conn. He was to be cremated and his ashes interred with those of his grandfather Allen Joseph Bonertz, in Nebraska, according to his wishes. A celebration of his life will be held in New York at a later date.
His family has suggested donations to a fund set up in the name of his son, Miller Bonertz, at Liberty Bank, 2 West High Street, East Hampton, Conn. 06424.
Maurice H. Kouffman, a recipient of Israel’s Medal of Honor who helped start El Al Israel Airlines in 1948 and was a founder of the Jewish Center of the Hamptons in East Hampton, died on June 5 at Stony Brook Southampton Hospital. He had remained active until his death, at 98.
Seven months before the State of Israel was established, Mr. Kouffman, a Zionist and World War II veteran who had been a fighter pilot, flew missions to help the fledgling state and to train Israeli Air Force pilots. He had been a pilot in the European and North African Theaters from 1942 to 1945 during World War II. He graduated from the Air War College at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas as a second lieutenant, and from 1946 to 1974 served in the Air Force Reserves, retiring as a lieutenant colonel. He also flew for commercial airlines, including Trans-Caribbean Airlines, until 1950, and was chief of North American operations from 1950 to 1958 for El Al.
In East Hampton, Mr. Kouffman was the president and owner of MKL Construction, which he started in 1959. He also owned East Hampton Real Estate from 1958 to the present, co-owned the old Star Lanes bowling alley in East Hampton from 1959 to 1964, and was a co-owner of East Hampton House, a motel, from 1965 to 1975.
Maurice Henry Kouffman was born on April 1, 1920, in Providence, R.I., one of 11 children of Henry Abraham Kouffman and the former Fanny Litchman, who had immigrated to Rhode Island from Bessarabia in Eastern Europe. He graduated from Classical High School there, where he was captain of the field hockey, baseball, and football teams. He remained an active athlete throughout his life, doing morning exercises and stretches until recently, and playing tennis regularly until he was 86.
Mr. Kouffman and his wife, the former Marilyn Miller, who were married on Aug. 6, 1947, lived for 38 years on Hither Lane in East Hampton. The couple also lived at various times in Israel, Washington, D.C., and Levittown.
“He was a soft-spoken man of good humor and patience, who carried himself with quiet dignity,” his family wrote in preparing obituary material. “A kind, gentle, modest, and loving man, he had compassion for others less fortunate, and maintained a keen interest in American and foreign affairs.” He read The New York Times and The Jerusalem Post every day, they said.
In addition to his wife of 70 years, the Kouffmans had four children, Carol Kouffman, Heather Kouffman, Robert Kouffman, and Phillip Kouffman, all of East Hampton, who survive. Six grandchildren and two great-grandchildren survive as well. There was no service. The family received visitors on June 10 and 11 at his son Phillip Kouffman’s house.
Joseph M. Ritsi, a former Montauk fishing captain and Air Force and Air National Guard veteran, died in his sleep at home in Jacksonville, Fla., on May 27. He was 66. No cause of death was given.
Mr. Ritsi had spent summers in Montauk while growing up, living with his family in Miami the rest of the year. He worked out of Montauk over the years as a charter mate and captain, owning the Gannett, and was also a mate on his childhood friend Dave Kohlus’s Hooker. During this period, Mr. Ritsi also worked as a corrections officer with the Suffolk County sheriff’s department and served in the 106th Air National Guard Rescue Wing based in Westhampton Beach.
Joseph Michael Ritsi was born on Sept. 12, 1951, in Astoria, Queens, to the former Christine Ruschmeyer and Michael Caesar Ritsi. The original Ruschmeyer’s Inn on Second House Road in Montauk was his mother’s family’s business. He made his home in Montauk in a house on South Forest Street.
After completing high school Mr. Ritsi served in the Air Force during the Vietnam War, leaving the service as a staff sergeant. He re-enlisted twice, first in the Air Force Reserve, then in the Air National Guard.
Over the course of his military service, he was given the Air Force Outstanding Unit Award, the Air Reserve Meritorious Service Medal, and the Air Force Achievement Medal, among others.
His family said that he loved nothing more than being a father and grandfather. He enjoyed sports, fishing, hunting, history, travel, classic cars, animals, and he collected vintage coins.
He is survived by his mother, Christine Ruschmeyer Moore of Miami, his children, Michael Ritsi of Montauk, Jaclyn Roge of Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla., and Linda Roge of Rochester, and seven grandchildren. His siblings, Karen Ritsi of California, and Maria Ritsi, Cheryl Ritsi, Dino Ritsi, and Crissy Ruschmeyer, all of Miami or the Miami area, also survive.
Mr. Ritsi’s funeral will be held on June 30 at 12:30 at the Montauk Community Church, followed by burial at Fort Hill Cemetery.
Mary Ann M. Klepper, an equestrian, skier, and cook who also was a eucharistic minister, died of lung disease, which she had had for 10 years, on Sunday at her home in Warwick, N.Y. She was 75.
As an equestrian, Ms. Klepper volunteered for many years at the Winslow Therapeutic Riding Center in Warwick. She also helped at the Mt. Alverno Center, an assisted living facility in Warwick, and served at St. Stephen’s Catholic Church in Warwick.
Ms. Klepper was introduced to Montauk as a 2-year-old when she and her family spent summers camping at Hither Hills State Park. She and her husband owned a house in Montauk until recently.
Born in Brooklyn on Sept. 16, 1942, to the former Carolyn Manno and Peter Cacciola, she grew up in Bergenfield, N.J., and attended public schools there. She and her high school sweetheart, Fred Klepper, were married in 1961. The family lived in Paramus and Montvale, N.J., where Mr. Klepper ran an insurance agency, before moving to Warwick.
The family will receive friends today at the Lazear-Smith and Vander Plaat Memorial Home in Warwick. A Mass of Christian burial, officiated by the Rev. Patrick Buckley, will be celebrated on Friday at St. Stephen’s. Burial will follow at George Washington Memorial Park in Paramus.
In addition to her husband, Ms. Klepper is survived by three sons, Fred Klepper of Lakewood, Pa., Christopher Klepper of Tappan, N.Y., and William Klepper of Montvale. A daughter, Alison, died before her. Her other survivors are her brothers, Anthony Cacciola of Westwood, N.J., and Michael Cacciola of Edgewood, N.J., and her sister, Elizabeth Penza of Tinton Falls, N.J., as well as 11 grandchildren.
Donations in her memory have been suggested to the Alison Klepper Scholarship Fund c/o Community Foundation of Orange Inc., 30 Scott Corners Drive, Suite 203, Montgomery, N.Y. 12549. Online condolences can be sent to lsvpmemorialhome.com.
A celebration of the life of Jay Scott, a former Montauk resident who died on May 15 in Myrtle Beach, S.C., will be held on Saturday at 4 p.m. at Edward Ecker Park at the west end of Navy Road in Montauk.
The family of Ben and Bonnie Krupinski and their grandson, William Maerov, have suggested contributions to the following organizations.
For Mrs. Krupinski, contributions have been suggested to the Amagansett Fire Department, ambulance corps, P.O. Box 911, Amagansett 11930, or amagansettfd.org, and to the Amagansett Village Improvement Society, P.O. Box 611, Amagansett 11930, or keepamagansettbeautiful.com.
Donations in memory of Mr. Krupinski have been suggested to the Ben Krupinski Educational Scholarship Fund, care of the East Hampton Fire Department, 1 Cedar Street, East Hampton 11937 or easthamptonfiredepartment.org and the Retreat, 13 Goodfriend Drive, East Hampton or theretreat.org.
Contributions in memory of Mr. Maerov have been suggested to the St. Andrew’s School, 350 Noxontown Road, Middletown, Del. 19709 or standrews.org; the Rippowam Cisqua School, 439 Cantitoe Street, Bedford, N.Y. 10506 or rcsny.org, and to the Bedford Playhouse, 633 Old Post Road, Bedford or bedfordplayhouse.org.
An obituary for Mr. Maerov will appear in a future issue of The Star.
Bonnie Bistrian Krupinski, a successful and influential East Hampton businesswoman, began her career as a secretary to her father, Peter Bistrian, in his mining and construction business, but her “obvious skill and tenacity” soon led her to assume direction of the Bistrian family’s varied enterprises, her brother Bruce Bistrian wrote.
Mrs. Krupinski died in a plane crash off Indian Wells Beach in Amagansett on June 2 along with her husband, Ben Krupinski, her grandson, William Maerov, and their pilot, Jon Dollard. They had been returning from visiting her granddaughter, Charlotte Maerov, at her school in Newport, R.I.
The Krupinskis were involved in a wide array of businesses and philanthropic endeavors, both together and individually. With her brother Barry Bistrian, Mrs. Krupinski co-managed the Bistrian Gravel and Bistrian Cement Corporation in East Hampton and the farming and real estate conglomerate established by their father. She developed the General Home Store, a mercantile operation in East Hampton Village, and was “an essential assistant to her husband” in managing a commercial enterprise that included three restaurants — the 1770 House, Cittanuova, and East Hampton Point — as well as shopping centers, two marinas, and numerous residential units, among other ventures.
“Known for her keen vision and wise counsel to family, friends, business associates, and public and governmental committees, she gave freely of her time and also of her financial support where needed and appropriate,” Bruce Bistrian wrote. Among the many organizations she supported were the East Hampton Ladies Village Improvement Society, the Amagansett Village Improvement Society, Guild Hall, the Amagansett Presbyterian Church, and the Amagansett Life-Saving and Coast Guard Station. She had also served on East Hampton Town’s airport management and advisory committee.
According to Bruce Bistrian, she was “the driving force in the successful development of the East Hampton Golf Club,” fulfilling a longtime dream of her father’s. The club, on Abraham’s Path, has a course designed by Ben Crenshaw and Bill Coore, and now boasts “full membership,” her brother wrote.
Mrs. Krupinski shepherded her family’s gift of 16 acres of Napeague wetlands to New York State and helped to broker the sale of 11 acres of a reclaimed mining operation to East Hampton Town for conservation purposes, “while retaining 1.5 acres for exchange of properties with the Suffolk County Water Authority to provide ample water to supplement the inadequate water supply in eastern Amagansett,” according to her brother.
Bonnie Mae Bistrian was born on Aug. 26, 1947, at Southampton Hospital to Peter Bistrian and the former Mary Ryan, the fourth of six children. Her mother, who was of Scottish-English ancestry, named her Bonnie for her pleasant appearance, and Mae for a childhood friend. She attended the Amagansett School and the Sacred Heart Catholic School in Sag Harbor. She and Bernard Krupinski were high school sweethearts and married on Oct. 22, 1965. “They really loved each other,” said her sister Barbara Borg.
Mrs. Krupinski began college, but soon returned home to have her own child, Laura, and to help raise her younger sisters. She was a “trusted assistant and confidante to her mother,” Bruce Bistrian wrote.
After many years in Amagansett, the Krupinskis renovated a house on North Main Street in East Hampton Village, making it a showpiece for the work of Ben Krupinski Builders. They had a summer house overlooking Three Mile Harbor.
Mrs. Krupinski was a “superb party-giver,” her brother wrote, renowned for her annual birthday bashes at the East Hampton Golf Club, Bastille Day celebrations overlooking the fireworks on Three Mile Harbor, dinner parties at the house in East Hampton Village, and gatherings at the couple’s restaurants and winter house in North Palm Beach, Fla.
Mrs. Krupinski “had a wide circle of friends from many different stations of life and was noted and celebrated for maintaining friends from childhood” all the way through high school and beyond.
Her siblings Patrick Bistrian Jr. of Amagansett, Dr. Bruce Bistrian of Amagansett and Ipswich, Mass., Barry Bistrian of East Hampton, Barbara Borg of Amagansett and Jupiter, Fla., and Betsy Avallone of East Hampton all survive, as do her daughter, Laura Krupinski, her granddaughter, Charlotte, and many nieces and nephews.
A service for Mrs. Krupinski, her husband, and her grandson was held on Friday at the East Hampton Presbyterian Church.
Bernard John Krupinski Jr., who died in a June 2 plane crash that took the lives of his wife, Bonnie Krupinski, their grandson, William Maerov, and Jon Dollard, a Hampton Bays pilot who worked for Mr. Krupinski, was described as a man who loved his family, friends, and community above all.
Mr. Krupinski, known as Ben, was perhaps best known as a house builder. His Ben Krupinski Builders counted the rich and famous among its clients. But the company also had a strong commitment to charitable acts, putting roofs on churches, completing a $14.5 million rebuilding of the Guild Hall cultural center, renovating the shops at the Ladies Village Improvement Society in East Hampton, often at no cost to the organizations.
The exterior work and windows at the Amagansett Life-Saving and Coast Guard Station, now restored and open to the public, was another of his projects. Krupinski Builders was the general contractor at the new Parrish Art Museum in Water Mill, rebuilt the fire-wrecked Scoville Hall in Amagansett, and spearheaded the major — and at one time controversial — expansion of the East Hampton Library.
Mr. Krupinski was a restaurateur as well, operating East Hampton Point on Three Mile Harbor and Cittanuova and the acclaimed 1770 House in East Hampton Village. At one time, he also owned the Asian fusion Wei Fun on Pantigo Road in East Hampton that was run as the Grill on Pantigo for a time. A share of the Red Horse Market complex in East Hampton was among his holdings, as were a number of other commercial properties, including the East Hampton Point and Shagwong Marinas.
His Executive Air Terminal at the East Hampton Airport offers private charter aircraft from East Hampton Airlines and provides fuel and other services. Mr. Krupinski had a pilot’s license and had a great love for his aircraft.
“His acts of kindness were shown in many ways,” Mr. Krupinski’s brother, Frank Ackley of East Hampton, said this week. “Known acts were publicly seen and many discreetly taken care of without needed attention.”
Among these were work on the Retreat’s shelter for victims of domestic violence and their families, where he made sure that any children who stayed there had a room of their own to play in. He built access ramps for disabled residents. He supported school sports teams. He provided money to the East Hampton Food Pantry and fruit for runners in the annual Katy’s Courage 5K race.
Mr. Krupinski and other members of his extended family were frequent donors to local Republican candidates. He also supported Sinn Fein, the Irish republican political party. Gerry Adams, its former longtime leader, spoke at Mr. and Mrs. Krupinski and Mr. Maerov’s funeral at the East Hampton Presbyterian Church on Friday.
One of Mr. Krupinski’s grandmothers immigrated to the United States in 1900 and found work in the East Hampton summer colony. Intrigued with his Irish roots, he visited Ireland and saw the family homestead. Later, he got to know Mr. Adams through a mutual friend.
Bernard John Krupinski Jr. was born on June 15, 1947, at Southampton Hospital to Ben Krupinski Sr. and Cecilia Howard Ackley, both of whom died before him. His father ran Benny’s delicatessen on Springs-Fireplace Road. In his teens he had a paper route in East Hampton and he would often dig for clams in Accabonac Harbor with his siblings; his mother would deliver them to customers where she worked in Riverhead. The young Mr. Krupinski used the clamming money to buy his first boat.
He attended East Hampton schools and Mercy High School, then went for a time to Suffolk County Community College in Selden, returning to work in his wife’s father’s sand and gravel mining business. From there, he moved into home building, starting G.B.D. Builders in about 1980. That led to East Hampton’s largest independent commercial enterprise, centered on Ben Krupinski Builders.
During the 2007-8 renovation at Guild Hall, Mr. Krupinski was invited to join the cultural center’s board of directors. He declined, telling an interviewer at the time, “I am a free spirit. I am a person of action. Parliamentary procedure is not my forte. It can be frustrating. I’d rather just do it.”
He was an honorary member of the East Hampton Fire Department and a past member of many civic organizations. Mr. Ackley said that his brother’s love of fishing, hunting, card games, golf, and tennis were important but came second after his passion for work and pleasing others.
“Ben Krupinski was greater than life. His smile and eyes just light up a room,” Mr. Ackley said. Many years ago, when Mr. Krupinski appeared on his friend Martha Stewart’s Christmas television special to make a gingerbread house, even Miss Piggy, the vociferous Muppet, could not take her eyes off him, his family recalled.
In addition to Mr. Ackley, Mr. Krupinski is survived by a daughter, Laura Krupinski, and a granddaughter, Charlotte Maerov. Charlotte’s father, Lance Maerov, spoke at the Friday funeral. He lives in New York City and is a frequent visitor to East Hampton. He is also survived by a sister, Sheila Smith of East Hampton, a half brother, Kevin Ackley of East Hampton, and dozens of nieces and nephews.
In the 2007 interview, Mr. Krupinski spoke about his charitable works. “When you have lived here like I have, my whole life, you know the needs of people and you never forget that. It’s not the money. It’s the thought. The process. It makes for a better town.”