Robert Emmett Gosman, who with his family built Gosman’s Dock from a modest chowder house on Montauk Harbor to an expansive complex of restaurants, shops, and a wholesale and retail seafood business, died last Thursday. He was 89 and had been ill for several years.
With his parents and siblings, Mr. Gosman, who was called Emmett, owned and operated Gosman’s, which his parents founded in 1943 (the business was sold last year). In 1968, he assumed management of Gosman’s Restaurant, running the “back of house” while his sister, the late Roberta Gosman Donovan, oversaw the front. He also managed the business’s finances and two motels at the corner of West Lake Drive and Soundview Drive.
He oversaw the family business from his “perch,” an office above the restaurant, where he famously declined an offer from the musician Billy Joel to rent the space for use as a music studio. Heads of state and dignitaries, movie and music stars, the artist and photographer Peter Beard, and Frank Mundus, the notorious fisherman and inspiration for the character Quint in Peter Benchley’s novel “Jaws,” were among the regulars at the bar at Gosman’s Restaurant. But Mr. Gosman always looked out for locals, his family said. Along with playing golf, one of his pastimes was buying a drink or a meal for friends and patrons alike, they said.
Robert Emmett Gosman was born on Feb. 16, 1936, at the family’s house on Abram’s Landing Road in Amagansett to Robert Horton Gosman and the former Mary Ellen Harrington. His mother had emigrated from Ireland in 1927, at age 17. His father “did some carpentry, some fishing,” Mr. Gosman told The Star in 2018, “and he was selling cars for Dan Lester — he was a star salesman, got two or three pins from General Motors. And then he got in the fish business, drumming fish.”
He grew up in Amagansett and at the harbormaster’s house, the round house at what is now Gosman’s Dock. “There were eight of us in that little house, the harbormaster’s house built by Carl Fisher when they opened the inlet,” he told The Star.
He attended the Amagansett School and graduated from East Hampton High School. “I never went anywhere,” he told The Star. “I never wanted to, never intended to go anywhere. I didn’t want college. I wanted to be here.”
As a teenager in 1951, he jumped on a boat to join the search for survivors and retrieve bodies from the Pelican, a party fishing boat that capsized off Montauk with 64 people aboard.
He and Kathleen Bolton were married on Nov. 5, 1960, and raised four children in Montauk. They lived on Fairview Avenue, across the street from the “windmill” house that was formerly owned by his mother. For many years, Mr. and Mrs. Gosman spent winters in Vero Beach, Fla.
He had a wit like a whip, and was “feared, revered, respected, and loved by many” in equal parts, his family said, likening him to the general of “Emmett’s Army,” as his staff was known. He played golf for many years with a group of local men and friends in Florida, and was a member of the South Fork Country Club, now the Amagansett Golf Club. He always enjoyed the “19th hole” after a round, his family said.
Kathy Gosman, his wife of 60 years, died in 2020. Mr. Gosman is survived by his children. They are Karin Gosman and Robert Gosman, both of Montauk, Sharon Gosman of Manhattan and Montauk, and Diane Gosman of Colorado. Four grandchildren also survive: Matthew Vilar of Wilmington, N.C., Brendan Vilar of Montauk, and Katherine Marsella and Elizabeth Marsella, both of Colorado. Three great-grandchildren, Brea and Carter Vilar, who live in North Carolina, and Beau Cunningham Gosman Vilar of Montauk, who was born last year and whom his great-grandfather called “Lord Beau,” also survive.
Mr. Gosman leaves two brothers, William Gosman of Montauk and Richard Gosman of Vero Beach. Many nieces and nephews also survive. Two other brothers, John Gosman Sr. and Hubert (Sandy) Gosman, died before him. His sister died in 2018.
A wake was held on Monday at the Yardley and Pino Funeral Home in East Hampton. Mr. Gosman will be cremated, and his ashes are to be dispersed by his family at a date to be determined.
His family has suggested memorial contributions to the Montauk Fire Department’s ambulance company, 12 Flamingo Avenue, Montauk 11954 or montaukfiredistrict.org, or the Montauk Food Pantry at montaukfoodpantry.org/donate.
