Wellness Foundation Founder Honored

The East Hampton Rotary will honor Doug Mercer, the founder of the East Hampton Wellness Foundation, as the club’s person of the year at a Dec. 1 dinner at East by Northeast restaurant in Montauk. Tickets are $30 and can be reserved by phoning Conrad Costanzo of Surfside Avenue in Montauk. The event will begin at 5:30 p.m.

Mr. Mercer, who lives on Dunemere Lane in East Hampton, moved here full time in 1988 after 20 years at States Marine Lines, which his father had founded at the end of World War II. The Wellness Foundation, which he established about a decade ago, promotes health through nutrition, physical activity, and stress management. According to the Rotary Club, it has helped educate as many as 10,000 adults and children on the South Fork and has been the model for similar programs elsewhere.

It also runs public programs for adults and collaborates with restaurants about adding and promoting healthy menu options.

Mr. Mercer has said that he drew inspiration for the Wellness Foundation both from his father’s premature death, which was linked to strokes he first suffered at 62, and a boycott of unhealthy cafeteria food at the East Hampton Middle School in 2005.

The foundation runs several six-week Wellness Challenges a year. The next will begin the week of Jan. 19 with locations in Bridgehampton, East Hampton, Southampton, and Hampton Bays. Participants will learn to eat better to lose weight, lower their cholesterol, and reduce prescription drug use. The cost is $150. Further details can be requested by phone at the foundation’s office or by email at [email protected].