Obituaries

Redjeb Jordania, a boatbuilder, author, college professor, teacher, trained musician, arranger, and composer who played the piano for ballet companies in Paris during the Roaring Twenties, and a longtime resident of Springs, died last Thursday at his home there, surrounded by family. He was 99 and had been ailing for only a short time. 

Reynold Ruffins, an acclaimed illustrator and artist, died at home in Sag Harbor on July 11. He was 90.

Rose DeFina first trip to Montauk coincided with a hurricane, but she fell in love with the hamlet, and she and her husband became full-time residents. She died on July 11 at home in Miami. She was 88.

There will be a memorial service for Craig Eisenberg on Saturday at 11 a.m. at Most Holy Trinity Cemetery on Cedar Street in East Hampton.

Dorothy Dolores Malik, a former bookkeeper at the American Cyanamid pharmaceutical and chemical company, died at home in Montauk on Saturday. She was 84.

Mary Patricia Robert died on June 18 at home on Egypt Lane in East Hampton, surrounded by family, friends, and her dog, Peaches. She was 87 and had been ill for three weeks.

Sallie Rembert Quirk, a Sag Harbor artist, liked to laugh that she lived and worked on three islands: "Manhattan Island, Long Island, and the island of Mallorca," as it says on her website. And it was on that Spanish isle that she died on June 5 from a lung infection at age 82.

Surfing brought Thomas Havlik to Montauk from Floral Park, where he had grown up, and it drew him to settle there after college. He died on July 4, aged 70.

Andre Elkon, a longtime financial adviser and summertime Wainscott resident with a sharp wit, innate nostalgia, and a loving family eager to indulge in both, died of heart failure on June 30 at Weill Cornell Medical Center in Manhattan.

Ellen L. Keen of Amagansett and Forest Hills Gardens died on June 28 at home in Amagansett. She was 93.

A celebration of life for John Jay Sayers Jr., who died on April 12, will be held from 2 to 5 p.m. on July 18 at the West Sayville Firehouse at 80 Main Street. 

A memorial service for Sean Doyle of East Hampton, who died on Jan. 2 of Covid-19, will be held on Friday, July 16, at 10 a.m. at Most Holy Trinity Catholic Church in East Hampton. A celebration of his life will follow immediately after at Most Holy Trinity Cemetery on Cedar Street. 

Joan Ann Anderson, a homemaker, died of cardiac arrest on June 4 at Peconic Bay Medical Center in Riverhead. The Amagansett native was 88.

Katherine Donan Cline, who had successful careers as a costume designer for the theater, a clothing designer and producer, and a visual artist, died of a stroke on Dec. 21, 2020, at the Mary Manning Walsh Home in Manhattan. She was 85 and had been ill for two weeks.

Lynda Scheerer Stokes a former chief executive officer of the Mark, Fore & Strike resort wear chain, died at home on Pondview Lane in East Hampton on June 21. The cause was ovarian cancer. She was 95. 

Betty Mazur was a staunch Democratic political activist, fearless environmentalist, lover of wildlife, intrepid traveler, and a loving, generous, and supportive mother and grandmother, and loyal friend, her family wrote. "She was beloved not just for her winning smile, but her personal and professional selflessness, indefatigability — especially in the face of adversity — and an acute sense of humanity."

Bruce Richard Goetz, a former custodian at the Springs School, died of metastatic lung cancer on June 11 at his daughter's home in New Hampton, N.Y. An East Hampton resident for many years, he was 66 and had been ill for more than a year.

Edward Peller of East Hampton, who had a career for more than 40 years as a tax specialist for U.S. Trust and volunteered for Meals on Wheels after moving here from Rye Brook, N.Y., died of cancer on June 8 at the Hamptons Center for Rehabilitation and Nursing in Southampton. He was 82.

Betty Greene Mazur, the vice chairwoman of the East Hampton Town Democratic Committee and a member of the Amagansett Citizens Advisory Committee, died at Stony Brook Southampton Hospital on June 16. She was 90. An obituary will appear in a future issue. 

James H. Overton of East Hampton, a foreman in the Vector Control Division of Suffolk County's Public Works Department for many years, died of a Covid-19-related illness on April 15. He was 80 and had been ill for three weeks.

A memorial service for Betty Mazur, a longtime East Hampton Town Democratic Committee official, will take place on Sunday at 2 p.m. at the Yardley and Pino Funeral Home in East Hampton, at 94 Pantigo Road.

Dorothy E. Cumby of East Hampton and Swarthmore, Pa., had a long and distinguished career in the legal field, starting as a paralegal and editor of the Fordham Law Review and later clerking for a federal judge before starting her own law firm. She died at home in Swarthmore on May 31 after having cancer for three years. She was 64.

Elizabeth Jane Warr, a longtime resident of Montauk who was president of the Friends of the Montauk Library from 1998 to 2004, died of cancer on June 5 at Stony Brook University Hospital. She was 79.

Emily Celina Cullum loved being around people and loved helping them, her son, Dell Cullum, wrote, and she did so with pleasure at the Gansett Deli, which she owned and operated in the 1970s and early 1980s, and later in positions at the Lido Motel in Montauk and the Maidstone Club in East Hampton.

A Zoom memorial and in-person gathering for Beryl Bernay, who died of Covid-19 on March 29, 2020, are planned for next week. Both are being organized by her niece, Carol Gonzales. The memorial will be held on Wednesday from 7:30 and 8:30 p.m. Participants will be asked to share reminiscences up to two minutes in length.

Family and friends of Mike Finazzo, who died on April 15, will gather at Fort Hill Cemetery in Montauk on Saturday at 2 p.m. to celebrate his life. A casual reception will follow at the Clam and Chowder House at Salivar's in Montauk from 3 to 5 p.m.

Pamela Choy, a textile specialist for the fashion industry, an animal lover who was a dedicated volunteer at the Animal Rescue Fund of the Hamptons, and a spirited lover of life, died at home in New York City on May 24 after a heart attack. She was 68.

Patricia Saar of North Haven, a nurse who later worked in the Springs and East Hampton school systems, died on Sunday after a brief illness. She was 78. Known as Patty, she was a dedicated gardener and nature and animal lover. Whether it was a dog, orphaned baby raccoons, or a flock of chickens, her family said that they cannot recall a time that there weren't animals around the house.

Ruth A. Johnson of East Hampton, a homemaker and longtime volunteer for Meals on Wheels, died of heart failure on April 16 at Stony Brook Southampton Hospital. She was 94, and had been ill for a month.

Mr. Urvalek, widely known as Captain Bill, first came to Montauk in the mid-1970s and began his fishing career in the early 1980s working for the Viking Fleet. At the same time, he worked toward earning his captain's license, which led to the acquisition of his own charter boat, the Karen Sue, named after his wife, who survives. He sold the Karen Sue in 2012 and opened a fiberglass boat repair business.