Skip to main content

Helen S. Rattray, Longtime Star Editor and Publisher, Dies at 90

Fri, 04/18/2025 - 14:45

Helen S. Rattray, the former longtime editor and publisher of The East Hampton Star, died early Wednesday morning at Eastern Long Island Hospital in Greenport.

Ms. Rattray, who was 90, became associate editor of the paper in 1976 and took over as editor in chief in 1980. Her "Connections" column appeared in The Star for 43 years, until 2020. 

A memorial gathering and celebration of her life will be held on Sunday, April 27, at 11 a.m. at Ashawagh Hall in Springs, with a potluck lunch to follow.

Villages

Time to Strip, Dip, Freeze

Polar plunges at Main Beach in East Hampton and Beach Lane in Wainscott on New Year’s Day accomplish many things: bracing and exhilarating starts to the year, the company of many hundreds of friends and fellow townspeople, and a chance to secure bragging rights that extend well into 2026. But most important, each serves as a critical fund-raiser for food pantries.

Dec 25, 2025

Support Where It’s Most Needed

Soon after moving to Water Mill with her family in 2015, Marit Molin became aware of a largely unacknowledged population underpinning the complicated Hamptons economy. That led her to create Hamptons Community Outreach, which is dedicated to meeting basic critical needs to help break cycles of poverty.

Dec 25, 2025

Item of the Week: From Mary Nimmo Moran, Christmas 1898

This etching by Mary Nimmo Moran shows what was likely the view from her home across Town Pond, with the Gardiner Mill in the background, a favorite landscape for her.

Dec 25, 2025

 

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.