Remembering Some Who Died In 1996
Death claimed a number of widely known and well-liked members of the South Fork community in 1996. Some were famous worldwide, such as Pierre Franey and Alger Hiss, while others were prominent locally, such as Rabbi Myron Kinberg of the Jewish Center of the Hamptons and Dr. John J. Astorr, an East Hampton dentist for nearly 30 years, who died within days of each other in April.
Rabbi Kinberg, who in his short year and a half as leader of the East Hampton temple won the admiration and affection of many congregants and others in the community, died of a heart attack while playing tennis on April 19 at the age of 51.
Dr. Astorr, 57, who grew up here, died on April 21 at the Stony Brook University Medical Center, where he was recovering from a kidney transplant. The kidney had been donated by his wife, Diane.
Among The Famed
Alger Hiss, 92, the American diplomat accused of being a Communist spy, who spent 44 months in the Lewisburg (Pa.) Penitentiary after two celebrated trials, died on Nov. 15. He was a longtime homeowner in East Hampton.
Pierre Franey, 75, the internationally renowned chef, culinary teacher, and author, suffered a stroke while giving a cooking demonstration on the Queen Elizabeth 2 off the coast of England and died on Oct. 15. He had lived in Springs for more than 40 years.
Other East End residents - or regular visitors - who died during 1996 were:
Ronald H. Brown, 54, the U.S. Secretary of Commerce and a frequent visitor to Sag Harbor, on April 3 in a plane crash near the airport in Dubrovnik, Croatia.
Dan Flavin, 63, a minimalist Abstract Expressionist artist whose radical fluorescent light sculptures have been shown worldwide, on Nov. 29.
Carolyn Tyson, 91, a patron of the arts, on Aug. 16.
Red Thunder Cloud, 76, the last member of his tribe to speak and write the language of the Catawba Indians, on Jan. 8.
Mayors, Teachers, Chiefs
Lester E. Demler, 83, the Mayor of North Haven between 1982 and 1988, on Aug. 21.
Roy L. Wines Jr., 71, the Mayor of Southampton Village for six years, on June 25.
Mark (Prof) Almy Hall, 85, a former science teacher at East Hampton High School for 37 years, on Sept. 11.
David R. Slattery, 64, a popular social studies teacher for more than 30 years at East Hampton High School, on Dec. 22.
Richard F. Steele, 84, a 33-year veteran of the East Hampton Village Police Department who was its acting chief for a time during World War II, on Aug. 22.
John Henry Doyle, the chief of the East Hampton Town Police Department between 1968 and 1980, on March 2.
"One Of The Moms"
Madeleine Potter, 96, who was famous here as "One of the Moms" because she wrote a series of letters about Bonac life in 1944 and 1945 that were published in The Star anonymously and sent free to local servicemen stationed overseas, on May 31.
Helena T. Lillywhite, 86, who for many years owned and ran the Southampton toy store Lillywhite's with her husband, on Oct. 21.
Helmut Krone, 70, who was influential in American advertising (he created the Juan Valdez character now synonymous with Colombian coffee), on April 12.