Richard B.H. Stern died at home in East Hampton on June 27 at the age of 94. A regular at Main Beach for decades, he could often “be found lounging in his beach chair, savoring his cigar, or swimming in the ocean, whether it was a calm white-flag day or a rough red-flag day,” his family wrote. Well known to both local and summer residents and to the lifeguard staff, Mr. Stern, who went by Dick, “was affectionately called the Mayor of Main Beach.”
He “loved basking in the sun and appreciating the beauty of East Hampton’s beaches,” his family said, and would travel to warmer places like the Caribbean or Florida, where he had a house in Boca Raton.
Certified by the National Association of Underwater Instructors, Mr. Stern taught scuba diving and was “immensely proud” of having completed over a thousand scuba dives. He liked to water-ski and, according to his family, “was known to perform emergency rescues with the young lifeguards on Main Beach.”
He also “enjoyed a competitive game of backgammon and loved imparting his words of wisdom and giving guidance to his friends and family.”
Mr. Stern was born in New York City on Nov. 16, 1929, to David I. Stern and the former Marion Haas. He grew up in the city, attending the Collegiate School before earning a bachelor’s degree from Yale University, where he studied psychology, sociology, and economics. He went on to earn a graduate degree in psychology from Columbia University, completing further graduate work at the University of Pennsylvania.
The company he founded, Richard Stern Associates, provided management services to businesses around the country, working with human resources departments and on employer-employee relations and time management to help his clients create “healthier companies,” his family said. He also conducted seminars for the American Management Association.
He began coming to East Hampton in the 1960s and for many years split his time between here and Westchester County. After he retired in the late 1980s, he lived in East Hampton and Boca Raton.
Mr. Stern married Susan Oppenheimer on Oct. 1, 1988. She died before him.
He is survived by his children from a previous marriage, Gary Stern of White Plains and Susan Stern of Pleasantville, N.Y., and by his grandchildren, Jessica Stern, Zachary Stern, Carolyn Calenda, and Michael Calenda. He leaves two nephews and a niece with whom he was very close, Michael Stern, Doug Stern, and Trish Frohman. A brother, Allan D.R. Stern, predeceased him.
Mr. Stern was buried in East Hampton next to his wife.
