Obituaries

Shirley Wackley, a parishioner at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in East Hampton who had worked at Osborne Insurance and the Strong Insurance Agency here, died of lung cancer at home in Boynton Beach, Fla., on Jan. 26. She was 87.

Stephen Randolph Gretz, a finance executive who had a house in East Hampton for 50 years, died in Chicago of a stroke on Jan. 21. Known as Randy, he was 74.

Word has been received of the death of Patrick Abrams in Costa Rica in December. He had cancer. A Montauk resident for over two decades, he had lived in Costa Rica since the mid-1990s.

Catherine Babcock of East Hampton, a manager at Main Beach for 18 years, a school crossing guard, and a police matron starting in the 1960s, died at home on Dec. 12. She was 98.

Barbara H. Scheerer, who served on the boards of the East Hampton Library, the East Hampton Village Planning Board, and the East Hampton Meals on Wheels, died at home here on Monday. She was 92.

Dr. Berry James Vaughan, a dentist with a private practice in East Hampton from 1974 until 2018, died on Jan. 7 at the Westhampton Care Center. He was 75 and had been ill with cancer and other health complications.

Nancy Johnston Mulford of Buell Lane in East Hampton, a volunteer and Presbyterian elder in the many places she lived, died on Jan. 12 in Skillman, N.J. She was 85.

Kathryn D. Vegessi, shoreside support for the Lazybones, a popular half-day party boat hailing out of Montauk operated by her husband, Capt. Michael Vegessi, died at St. Francis Hospital in Roslyn on Jan. 8. She was 70.

James Gerard Stier of Montauk, who had a long career with W.R. Grace & Company, a multinational with roots in materials, chemicals, and shipping, died at his son’s house in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., on Jan. 3. He was 94 and had been in hospice care for about two months.

George D. Meredith, a co-founder and creative director of Gianettino & Meredith, a New Jersey advertising agency, died at home in Springs on Jan. 5. He was 82 and had been in declining health.

Frederick A. Terry Jr., an attorney and sportsman, philanthropist and scholar, died at home in East Hampton on Jan. 13. He was 90.

Louis J. Sapienza, the owner of East Hampton Masonry Supply, died on Jan. 8 at Stony Brook Southampton Hospital. He was 70 and had lived with heart disease for several years.