Paul George Neff of Montauk, a former owner of O’Murphy’s Pub there, died of heart failure at home on Friday at the age of 87.
Born in Boston on March 24, 1932, to the former May Mottram and Paul Neff, he graduated from high school there and then joined the Air Force. His first sight of Montauk came in 1953, when he was stationed at Camp Hero.
Upon discharge, Mr. Neff attended Boston University, returning in summer to Montauk to work at the Surf ’n Sand hotel. During that time he met his former wife, Nancy Mead, whose family spent summers in the hamlet. They were married in 1958, and lived in Boston, while he completed college and worked at WGBH, a public television station.
The couple, with four children, later moved to Germantown, Pa., while he pursued a master’s degree in communications from the University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg School and worked at the local public television
station. They lived in a historical house in Germantown, which they renovated and restored.
Mr. Neff became a television producer, and won several awards for his productions, which included “Room to Grow,” a series of educational videos for children. He was considered a pioneer of the approach to education known as distance learning.
In 1970, when he began teaching at C.W. Post College, the family moved to Merrick, and later to Montauk. In the years following, Mr. Neff ran the communications center at Suffolk BOCES, the Board of Cooperative Educational Services, which helps both teenagers and adults gain workplace skills.
In 1985, before they were divorced, the Neffs became the owners of O’Murphy’s. Mr. Neff sold the pub about 15 years ago. He also invested in property along the water on Tuthill Road in Montauk, now often referred to as Millionaire’s Row.
He is survived by two daughters, Gillian Horowitz of Stamford, Conn., and Regan Moloney of Montauk, and two sons, Brandon Neff and Morgan Neff, both of Montauk. Another son, Gavin Mead Neff, died before him.
The family will receive visitors from 4 to 8 p.m. today at the Yardley and Pino Funeral Home in East Hampton. A celebration of his life will be held at 3 p.m. tomorrow at the Montauket, on Fleming Road in Montauk.
Memorial donations have been suggested to the Montauk Food Pantry, P.O. Box 997, Montauk 11954.
