Obituaries

Lottie Hartwell Gaines, a former member of the Montclair Board of Education in New Jersey, died last Thursday of complications of a Covid-19 infection at Virtua Voorhees Hospital in Voorhees, N.J. The East Hampton native was 85 and had been ill for three weeks.

Sean Doyle, a native of Ireland and a resident of East Hampton for over four decades, died at Stony Brook Southampton Hospital on Jan. 2 after contracting Covid-19 at the Hamptons Center for Rehabilitation and Nursing in Southampton. He was 86.

Sylvia Chavkin, the founder and organizer of the Poetry Marathon at the East Hampton Town Marine Museum in Amagansett, died at home in Manhattan on Jan. 27 at the age of 95. The cause was Covid-19.

Ms. Cammarata had a clothing business called Chuck's Vintage Inc. that was headquartered in L.A. with an office in New York City. She began coming to Sag Harbor with her future husband, Vincent Cammarata of Sag Harbor and New York City, in 2017. The two were married in July 2018.

Mary Jean Bennett, a former driver for the Schaefer school bus company, died on Jan. 13 at home in East Hampton Village. She was 82.

Patrick Eugene O'Sullivan, who worked for the Postal Service in East Hampton Village for 21 years, died on Jan. 15 at Vitas Hospice in Sebring, Fla. He was 74 and had been ill for many years with congestive heart failure and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Yuris Murillo Cruz devoted her life to her children, to helping others, and to her faith. The Amagansett resident was a parishioner at Most Holy Trinity Catholic Church who, said her family, "liked to brighten people's days with daily affirmations or prayers."

Yuris Murillo Cruz dedicó su vida a sus hijos, a su fe, a la ayuda de sus prójimos. Vivía en Amagansett y era feligresa de la iglesia católica Most Holy Trinity. Su familia la recuerda como una persona que “disfrutaba alegrando el día de sus cercanos con afirmaciones y oraciones diarias.”

The family of Madeleine Sara Cammarata of Los Angeles and Sag Harbor will receive visitors on Saturday at 11:30 a.m. at the Yardley and Pino Funeral Home in East Hampton, with Covid protocols in place.

Betty A. Vail loved East Hampton and told her daughter, Marci Vail, that the best day of her life was "the day that she and her parents returned to East Hampton from Baltimore, where her father worked in an airplane factory during World War II."

Charles Waller's illustrations, paintings, and assemblages combined whimsy, wit, and humor with sarcasm and social commentary. His work — paintings on distressed tin, embellished bone, layered and textured collage and constructions using vintage objects of iron and wood — appealed to a wide audience and reflected his unique take on life. Mr. Waller died at home in Springs on Jan. 16. He was 66 and had contracted Covid-19 two weeks earlier.

Edward Charles Kominski, who owned and operated a painting and wallpapering business here for almost 40 years, died of end-stage kidney disease at home in East Hampton on Jan. 3. He was 87 and had been ill for 10 years. "In his final days he was visited by numerous loving friends," said his granddaughter Katheryn Cooke-Michel.

Eugene David Beckwith, a former Montauk Fire Department commissioner, died in his sleep on Jan. 2 at the Long Island State Veterans Home in Stony Brook. He was 95.

Gerald Cummins, a respected political consultant who was a campaign adviser to John F. Kennedy in 1960 and ran Hugh Carey's successful gubernatorial campaign in 1974, inherited his passion for politics from his father and grandfather, the latter of whom had been a writer for President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

Lenore Brien of Rockville Centre and East Hampton died of complications of cancer at home in Rockville Centre on Jan. 11. Her family was with her. She was 73.

Dr. Martin Shepard, a psychiatrist, author, and, with his wife, Judith Shepard, trailblazing publisher, died with his family around him at home in Noyac on Dec. 17. He was 86 and had been ill for a short time.

A longtime fixture in both the cultural and horticultural life of East Hampton, Mary G. Clarke, who also lived in San Antonio, Tex., died on Jan. 13 at her house here. Her son Jonathan said her wish was to be with her family in her final weeks. She was 70 and had been diagnosed with cancer two months ago.

Mary Jean Bennett of East Hampton Village died on Jan. 13 and was buried on Monday at Most Holy Trinity Catholic Church Cemetery on Cedar Street in East Hampton. An obituary for her will appear in a future issue of The Star.

Sean Doyle, a native of Ireland and a resident of East Hampton for over four decades, died on Jan. 2 at Stony Brook Southampton Hospital. He was 86. A spring memorial will be announced, and an obituary will appear in a future issue.

A prominent philanthropist, she was a tireless advocate for others, children above all, her family said, devoted to global public health and serving as a powerful voice for those in need. Concerned with politics as well, she campaigned on behalf of candidates and civic causes in which she believed deeply.

Yuris Murillo Cruz of Amagansett died on Jan. 13 of injuries suffered in a hit-and-run accident in that hamlet. A funeral Mass for the 36-year-old mother of two was said on Tuesday at Most Holy Trinity Catholic Church. An obituary will be published in a future issue.

Anna Marie Nassauer of East Hampton Village died at home on Dec. 28. She was 92.

Laura Marie Hegner, who grew up in Montauk and graduated from East Hampton High School in 1983, died of a heart attack at home in Coram on Jan. 2. She was 56 years old.

Natalie Hahn, who worked as a licensed real estate broker in East Hampton for 31 years and was a longtime member of the Choral Society of the Hamptons, was remembered this week for her passion, optimism, intellect, and loyalty.

Robert P. Devlin, an owner of the Clam and Chowder House at Salivar's Dock in Montauk, died of liver cancer on Dec. 15 at home in that hamlet. He was 54 and had been ill for two months.

Rose Marie Rutkowski of Montauk, who with her husband owned Mr. John's Pancake House and later the Montauk Movie theater, died at Stony Brook Southampton Hospital on Jan. 5. She was 88.

Steven P. Balcuns, who grew up in Montauk, died of heart failure on Dec. 29. He was 49.

A funeral Mass for Laura Hegner, 55, of Coram, will be said on Sunday at 1 p.m. at St. Therese of Lisieux Catholic Church in Montauk with burial to follow at Fort Hill Cemetery. Ms. Hegner, a former resident of Montauk, died in her sleep on Saturday. An obituary will appear in a future issue of The Star. 

Jack S. Kelleher, who worked with the East Hampton branch of Saunders and Associates for 12 years, until 2017, died in Santa Fe, N.M., on Dec. 11. He was 66 and had contracted Covid-19 three weeks earlier.

James Gleason Conzelman III, who spent summers in East Hampton with his wife and their three children, died at his house in Fairfield, Conn., on Dec. 25 of bile duct cancer. He was 58 and had been ill for six months.

Juliana C. Vandervloed Nash, a native New Yorker who owned houses on Montauk Highway in Amagansett and Flaggy Hole Road in Springs, died at home in the Murray Hill neighborhood of Manhattan on July 11. She was 81 and had been ill with lung cancer for eight months.