Nelda Elvira Brickner, who with her husband owned and operated the 1770 House in East Hampton Village from 1968 to 1975, died in hospice care on April 1 in East Northport. She was 98.
As a business team, Ms. Brickner and Warren Brickner, whom she married in 1950, also operated Coiffures by Warren, which first opened in Manhattan on Madison Avenue and 76th Street. They later opened businesses in the Regency and St. Regis Hotels. In 1953, they opened their first East Hampton salon on Newtown Lane, later moving it to Main Street.
She and Mr. Brickner spent summers on Fireplace Road in Springs starting in 1950. They moved to Glen Ridge, N.J., in 1957 to raise their three children.
Ms. Brickner was a licensed real estate broker, and with her husband owned several rental houses in Springs. She worked for 25 years as a tax professional with H&R Block in Montclair, N.J., retiring at age 86.
Widowed at 63, Ms. Brickner “continued to lead an adventuresome life,” her family said. “Nurturing a lifelong love of learning and creative pursuits, she traveled widely, enjoying adventures in both cities and the countryside.”
Those adventures included a 45-mile-per-day bike tour of the Netherlands, scuba diving off the Galapagos Islands, hiking Machu Picchu in Peru, and visits to Italy. “She loved to immerse herself in new cultures, always treasuring the joy and discovery that came with each journey,” her family said.
A fan of the opera and museums, she also played tennis, skied, rode horses, sailed, and swam in Gardiner’s Bay. “Most of all, she loved an Amagansett ocean beach day with her family. Nelda’s Christian faith brought comfort and grace and was a guiding light throughout her life, providing a foundation for how she lived and treated others.”
Born to Nazarino Marini and the former Concetta Campana in Union City, N.J., on Sept. 13, 1927, she grew up there and graduated from Union Hill High School, where she was a drum majorette. She attended Vermont College in Montpelier and medical technology school in Boston, going on to work as a lab technician at Margaret Hague Hospital in Jersey City and at Southampton Hospital.
Her two older sisters, Rose Cirelli and Gloria Leber, died before her. She is survived by three children: Lauren Brickner-McDonald of Mountain Lakes, N.J., Deirdre Brickner-Wood of Durham, N.H., and Ward Brickner of Locust Valley.
She is also survived by eight grandchildren, Aria, Kailee, and Ryland Brickner-McDonald, Noah and Brady Brickner-Wood, and Smith, Abby, and Grant Brickner, and five great-grandchildren, Kai, Josanna, Maeve, Sam, and Blair. One great-grandchild, Haven, predeceased her. She leaves behind “many loving nieces, nephews, family members, and friends,” her family said.
Ms. Brickner was buried at Glendale Cemetery in Bloomfield, N.J. Funeral arrangements were with Leber Funeral Home of Secaucus, N.J., and condolences can be submitted online at dignitymemorial.com.
Donations in her memory have been suggested to the East Hampton Library at 159 Main Street or easthamptonlibrary.org, or to Visiting Nurse Service and Hospice Care of Suffolk, 101 Laurel Road, East Northport 11731, online at visitingnurseservice.org.
