Obituaries

Merrall Topping Hildreth, a descendant of a Hildreth who settled on Long Island in the 17th century, died gently at home in Sagaponack on July 5, his daughter, Deborah Hildreth Phelps of Columbia County, N.Y., said. He was 96 and had been in the care of East End Hospice for less than two weeks.

Elizabeth Regan, a dedicated homemaker, mother, wife, and community member, died at home in Mamaroneck, N.Y., on June 23. A longtime year-round resident of East Hampton who, with her husband, kept the Mamaroneck apartment to visit relatives nearby, she was 88.

June Paler of Wainscott died of cardiac failure last month at Stony Brook Southampton Hospital. She was 83.

Donald Francis Fromm, a former captain on the Bridgeport and Port Jefferson Ferry, died of brain cancer on June 27 at home in Shoreham. The Amagansett summer resident was 68 and had been ill for four weeks.

Ronald Ralph Galione of East Hampton, a former senior vice president of the Alexander Proudfoot management consulting firm, died of pneumonia on June 11 at Palm Beach Gardens Medical Center in Florida. He was 89. 

Maria Whelan, a longtime advocate for children and families in the Illinois educational community, died of a heart attack in Chicago on June 10. Formerly of East Hampton, she was 69 years old.

Renee Schilhab Bullock, who had been a journalist, landscape designer, musician, and documentary filmmaker, died of liver and peritoneal cancer at Sibley Memorial Hospital in Washington, D.C., on June 14.

Jacqueline Penney, an award-winning painter and the owner of an eponymous art gallery in Cutchogue, died on June 18 at home in the hamlet. She was 90. 

Gen Barry Casey, an accomplished athlete, dance teacher, and New York City advertising executive, died in St. Petersburg, Fla., on April 5 at the age of 82.

Murray Skurnik, an award-winning advertising executive, died of pancreatic cancer at home in Sagaponack on Sunday. He was 86 and had been ill for three years.

A graveside service for Renee Schilhab Bullock will be held at Cedar Lawn Cemetery on Cooper Lane in East Hampton on Saturday at 11:30 a.m. The Very Rev. Denis C. Brunelle of St. Luke's Episcopal Church in East Hampton will give remarks. 

Ruth D'Eon, who made custom draperies and upholstery at the former Diamond's furniture store in East Hampton, died of a stroke on Saturday at the Peconic Bay Skilled Nursing and Rehabilitation facility in Riverhead. She was 91 and had been ill for a week.

Born on Dec. 3, 1928, in East Hampton to Thomas Dedato and the former Lena Sonberg, she grew up here and earned an associate's degree at the New York School of Interior Design.