David Seeler, a respected landscape architect and owner of the Bayberry Nursery in Amagansett for many years, died on Sept. 28 at Stony Brook Southampton Hospital of a sudden onset of acute myeloid leukemia. He was 83.
Mr. Seeler bought the Bayberry in 1970. His 55-year stewardship of the property, which grew from a half-acre to 12 acres, “assured his reputation as a successful businessman and singular landscape architect,” according to his family. He was committed to sustainability, the environment, and Long Island’s ecosystems.
His “vision was less rather than more, and his landscaping goal a tie-in to natural surroundings. Instead of hedges and fences which separate the land, for example, Seeler advocated for raised property elevations rimmed with ditches to make natural barriers and provide unobstructed views.” Known to create ponds to attract waterfowl, he had several on his property adjacent to the Bayberry and in Sagaponack.
“His timing was fortuitous as the East End morphed into the Hamptons in the early ‘80s and money and high-profile names bought properties that needed landscaping,” his family wrote. “Known to some as the ‘landscaper to the stars,’ Seeler’s clients included Ralph Lauren, Martha Stewart, Billy Joel, and Lauren Bacall, to name just a few.”
His work at the Creeks, Alfonso Ossorio’s 60-acre property on Georgica Pond, which took six years, was called “the eighth wonder of the horticultural world” by the American Conifer Society.
Mr. Seeler had been president of the Amagansett Historical Society for 10 years. He was a founding member of the Amagansett Business Alliance and served as its chairman for seven years, and had served on the board of Guild Hall in East Hampton.
Mentorship was important to him. He paid close attention to the Bayberry and his employees, many of whom had worked for him for decades. “He also kept in close touch with the employees that had left and, with his encouragement and mentoring, had started their own businesses.”
Mr. Seeler was born in Brooklyn on Dec. 15, 1941, to Carl Seeler and the former Margaret Schiller. The family moved to Huntington when he was young.
“His love and respect for the soil was nurtured by his mother as they worked side by side planting vegetables and flowers,” his family said. In the summer he worked for local landscapers.
He attended Friends Academy, a private Quaker school in Locust Valley, “where he faced puzzling challenges caused by undiagnosed dyslexia.” Though bright and popular, his grades were low and he had difficulty reading. He flunked out of school twice, but was reinstated and included in the 1959 graduation, where he received a certificate rather than a diploma.
He would be loyal to the school for the rest of his life, acting as a class agent, serving a term on its board of trustees, and contributing generously. The school honored him with a distinguished alumni award and had him as its distinguished alumni speaker in 2023.
It wasn’t until he was 30 that he realized he had dyslexia, while taking a scuba diving course on the Great Barrier Reef. After failing a written exam, the instructor gave him the test orally, and he got every answer right.
Mr. Seeler earned a degree in landscape architecture from the University of Georgia and in ornamental horticulture from the State University of New York.
He was “an eager traveler and opera lover,” and traveled with his wife, Ngaere Macray, to performances around the world, including at the Glyndebourne opera house in England and in Vienna, Salzburg, Berlin, and their favorite venue, Garsington, on 2,000 acres in the British Cotswolds. On other occasions, he traveled — sometimes with his old school friends, other times with close friends like Peter and Maria Matthiessen — on birding tours with Victor Emanuel Nature Tours, interested not so much in the birds as in “immersing himself in foreign exotic ecosystems” in places like South Africa and Panama.
He and his wife spent summers in Amagansett and winters in Sagaponack, and at home they enjoyed long walks with their dogs. “Until the end,” he embodied the teachings of his Quaker schooling: “peace, equality, simplicity, integrity, and community.”
He is survived by Ms. Macray, his wife of 36 years, by a brother-in-law, Michael Macray of Fort Myers, Fla., and a niece, Kelsie Macray of Austin, Tex., her husband, Tyler Adams, and their children, Sage, Mac, and Davina.
His wife has suggested donations to Friends Academy, at friendsacademy.org or 270 Duck Pond Road, Locust Valley 11560.
