Skip to main content

Gus Antell, 95  

Thu, 09/09/2021 - 08:45

Gus Antell, a high school teacher and the author of several textbooks on economics and the history of Western civilization, died on Saturday at home in East Hampton. He was 95.     

After serving as a first lieutenant in the Army during World War II, he had a 30-year teaching career in the New York City public school system, including as head of a social studies department and as vice principal.     

Upon his retirement from teaching, Mr. Antell oversaw curriculum development at Junior Achievement, a nonprofit that helps young people develop entrepreneurial and financial skills.     

Born on Feb. 16, 1926, in Brooklyn to Abraham Levine and the former Rebecca Zimmerman, he grew up there, graduated from Brooklyn College, and earned a master's degree in education at Columbia University.     

In 1953, he married the former Diane Darvas, who survives. The couple had a summer home East Hampton, and began living here full time in 1989.     

Mr. Antell was a volunteer for East Hampton Meals on Wheels, the Nature Conservancy, and the South Fork Natural History Museum in Bridgehampton.     

He enjoyed birdwatching and had taken birding trips around the country and in South America. He also enjoyed sailing on Three Mile Harbor and Gardiner's Bay.     

In addition to his wife, he is survived by a daughter, Rachel Antell of Berkeley, Calif., two grandchildren, Talia and Gabriel Antell-Proulx, and a sister, Laura Brickman of Port Washington.     

A private graveside service was held on Monday at Green River Cemetery in Springs. Memorial donations have been suggested to the East Hampton Library at easthamptonlibrary.org.

Villages

B-52s Founder Gets Hollywood Boulevard Star

Fred Schneider, who lives here, on the legendary new wave band’s 50-year rise from the college town of Athens, Ga., to the Hollywood Walk of Fame. 

Nov 5, 2026

Scallop Season: Bad News on the Half Shell

East Hampton Town waters will open to bay scallop harvesting at sunrise on Sunday, though this year’s crop is understood to be yet another in a string of disappointments, with few of the local delicacy’s population surviving. 

Nov 5, 2026

A Historical Marker for Second House

Members of the Montauk Historical Society and town, county, and state officials were on hand as a blue-and-gold cast-aluminum New York State historical marker was unveiled at Second House Museum in Montauk.

Nov 5, 2026

 

Your support for The East Hampton Star helps us deliver the news, arts, and community information you need. Whether you are an online subscriber, get the paper in the mail, delivered to your door in Manhattan, or are just passing through, every reader counts. We value you for being part of The Star family.

Your subscription to The Star does more than get you great arts, news, sports, and outdoors stories. It makes everything we do possible.