Harry Kamen, former chairman of the board and chief executive officer of MetLife, died at home in New York City on Dec. 20. A summertime resident of Wainscott, he was 89.

Stephen James Gauger, who worked at the late Gerson and Judith Leiber’s estate in Springs for 41 years, died on Dec. 21 at Stony Brook Southampton Hospital of complications of Stage 4 lung cancer. He was 63.

The temperature is predicted to be 51 degrees here on New Year's Day, virtually balmy when compared to Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, so expect big turnouts for the New Year's Day ocean plunges at East Hampton Village's Main Beach at 1 p.m. and at the Beach Lane road end in Wainscott at 2:30.

The Star’s incredibly well-read man in letters bids an insightful farewell to the year that was.