Lawrence B. Knowles of East Hampton, known to many from his years working at Stuart’s Seafood in Amagansett and the Seafood Shop in Wainscott, didn’t just sell fish, he also caught it, and with great skill, his family wrote.
Mr. Knowles, who grew up in Scarsdale, N.Y., began fishing as a child.
As an adult, he was a member of the High Hills Striper Club, a Long Island surf fishing club. When his children were young, before the family moved from Levittown to East Hampton, they went on frequent camping and fishing trips to Montauk.
Mr. Knowles was born on Feb. 12, 1932, in Lancaster, Pa., to Edwin B. Knowles and the former Lois Beckwith. He graduated from Scarsdale High School and in 1957 obtained a degree in dairy science from Virginia Polytechnic University in Blacksburg, Va.
His studies at Virginia Tech were interrupted by a time of service in the Army during the Korean War, when he was stationed in Panama from 1953 to 1955. “He was proud of his service and of being a veteran,” the family said.
Mr. Knowles met “the love of his life,” Dorothy Scara, in 1952. They were married in 1955 and settled in Levittown. He commuted to work at the Breyers Ice Cream Company in Queens.
In 1959, the Knowles family moved to East Hampton. Here, his love of fishing led him to jobs at Stuart’s and the Seafood Shop, where “he became a familiar and beloved fixture to both clientele and commercial fishermen.”
In retirement, he served as a part-time house watcher, cultivated a prolific garden whose yield he always shared with neighbors, and “focused on his love for family by nurturing his children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.”
Mr. Knowles died on March 6 at South Shore University Hospital in Bay Shore of congestive heart failure. He was 90.
His family remembered “his combination of ironic wit, sometimes off-color jokes, his invention of nicknames, quirky aphorisms, and love of singing,” and said, “Most notable was his legendary ‘work ethic,’ one of intent diligence and attention to detail,” adding that “he was also a generous donor to a wide variety of charitable causes.”
Mr. Knowles is survived by his wife and children, Lawrence Knowles Jr. of Eliot, Me., Douglas Knowles of Brooklyn, and Victoria Von Frank of East Hampton, and their spouses, Joanne Knowles, Irene Knowles, and David Von Frank, who were like his own children to him. He also leaves eight grandchildren, 11 great-grandchildren, and a sister, Alison Knowles of New York City. His grandson Eli Knowles and a great-grandson, Lawrence B. Knowles IV, died before him.
Funeral services were to be private.
