Obituaries

Jim Miller, formerly of Springs, an illustrator, art director, and graphic designer behind some of theater’s most memorable shows, died of congenital heart disease on Dec. 15 at home in Vero Beach, Fla. He was 83.

Jacqueline Ann Mitchell, a retired elementary school teacher who grew up in East Hampton, died in Newark, Ohio, on Dec. 21. She was 77 and had been ill with liver cancer.

Alice Byrnes Cooley, who began working as a telephone operator before she graduated from high school, and in her retirement was a familiar face at East Hampton Town’s senior citizens center, died at home in Bluffton, S.C., on Jan. 1.

Visiting hours for Louis J. Sapienza of East Hampton will be held today from 2 to 8 p.m. at the Yardley and Pino Funeral Home in East Hampton. A graveside service is planned for tomorrow at 11 a.m. at the Jamesport Cemetery.

Gunther Schlessinger, a summer resident of Amagansett who had a 60-year career in finance, died on Dec. 17 of pneumonia caused by Covid-19. He was 93.

Elizabeth Kaplan Fonseca of East Hampton died on Dec. 19 of long-term Alzheimer’s disease. She was 93.

Keith McDonald of East Hampton, a science teacher at the Tuckahoe School for many years, died at Peconic Bay Medical Center in Riverhead on Dec. 13 following a series of medical complications.

Elizabeth Kaplan Fonseca died at home in East Hampton on Dec. 19 after a long illness. She was 93.

Carol Lynne Elms, a caretaker and gardener on Gardiner’s Island and at large estates in East Hampton, died of cardiac arrest on Dec. 10.

Helen Ann MacIsaac, formerly of Amagansett, whose career included over a decade of senior international roles in corporate development, finance, and marketing, died on Dec. 11 in Washington, D.C.

Theresa Whelan, who had a long and distinguished law career on Long Island, died of cancer at East End Hospice in Westhampton Beach on Dec. 26. A resident of Wading River, she was 60.

Stephen James Gauger, who worked at the late Gerson and Judith Leiber’s estate in Springs for 41 years, died on Dec. 21 at Stony Brook Southampton Hospital of complications of Stage 4 lung cancer. He was 63.