Obituaries

Richard Cummings, a prolific writer and scholar, died of prostate cancer on June 18 in Southampton. He was 76.

As a young man, Mr. Cummings was an associate at a Manhattan law firm, Whitman Breed Abbott & Morgan, and at the United States Agency for International Development in Washington, D.C. He later taught at law schools in the West Indies and Ethiopia.

Robert E. Costello, a pioneering producer of classic ’50s television shows who later won a Peabody Award for the PBS series “The Adams Chronicles” and two Emmys for ABC’s daytime serial “Ryan’s Hope,” died of a heart attack on May 30 at his summer house in Amagansett’s Beach Hampton neighborhood. He was 93 and had been diagnosed many years before with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

    A memorial service for Annamae Bennett, who died in November at the age of 78, will be held at the American Legion Hall in Amagansett on June 28 from noon to 3 p.m. Ms. Bennett lived on Neck Path in Springs.

Frederick C. Filasky, the onetime owner of an East Hampton bed and breakfast called the Plover’s Nest, died at Southampton Hospital on May 29 of congestive heart failure. He was 75, and had been ill for some time.

    Kenneth Richard Frankl, who served as the vice president and general counsel of RKO General until 1984, died at home in Amagansett on Monday. He was 90. His memorial will be held at the Jewish Center of the Hamptons in East Hampton Village at 3 p.m. on June 29.    An obituary for him will appear in a future edition of The East Hampton Star.

Kyu Bong Cho, who moved from Korea to Springs at age 18 and attended East Hampton High School, died of a stroke on May 12 in Alexandria, Va. He was 61.

Mr. Cho came to the United States to live with his sister, Myong A. Cho Miller, and her husband, Mickey Miller, a bayman. One of his first jobs was helping Mr. Miller lift his fish traps early in the morning.

The Star has received word of the death of James Alan Ruthenberg, who grew up in East Hampton and Bohemia, on April 24 in Roanoke, Va., of cancer. He was 54 and had been living in Roanoke for the last 20 years.

“He was kind and generous,” said his mother, Alison Pidgeon of Sweetwater, Tenn., “and well liked by everyone he met.”

Jerry Dillon, who grew up in East Hampton and graduated from East Hampton High School with the class of 1955, died in Columbus, Ohio, on May 25. He was 76 and had a long history of pulmonary disease and congestive heart failure.

Mary Ellen Wilcox, who worked as a teacher and guidance counselor for 32 years upstate, died at home on Round Pond Lane in Sag Harbor on Monday after what was described as a long illness. She was 66.

Soon after moving to Sag Harbor 20 years ago, Ms. Wilcox became a volunteer at the Sag Harbor Community Food Pantry, which enriched her life. According to Ann Wallingford, her life partner of 33 years, she would say, “I come home with so much more than I gave.”

Richard G. Ehrlich, the owner of the Clam Bar on Napeague since 1980, died at home in Southold on Saturday of pancreatic cancer. He was 73, and had been ill for one month.

Known to his friends as Dick, he was born on June 10, 1940, in White Plains, N.Y., to Jacob Ehrlich and the former Mary Gates. Mr. Ehrlich graduated from Hamilton College in Clinton, N.Y. Fascinated by the world of stamp-collecting, he became a professional philatelist, traveling the world, successfully buying and selling stamp collections.

Robert L. Carter,  a proud veteran who marched in Sag Harbor’s parades whenever he could, died on Memorial Day at the Long Island State Veterans Home in Stony Brook, where he had lived for nearly a year. He was 82 and had Alzheimer’s disease.

Steven Harry Scheuer, who pioneered the previewing of television programs in newspaper columns and books and helped create the academic field of ­tele­vision history, died on June 1 in New York City of congestive heart failure. He was 88.

A funeral for Richard G. Ehrlich, the founder and owner of the Clam Bar restaurant on Napeague who died on Saturday of pancreatic cancer, will be at 1 p.m. Friday at the First Presbyterian Church on Main Road in Southold. Mr. Ehrlich, who was 73, lived in Southold and Jensen Beach, Fla.

Berta Jimenez, who emigrated from Guatemala 25 years ago and saw her children achieve the American dream of success, died at home on Accabonac Road in East Hampton on May 20. She was 98 years old, and had been diagnosed with metastasized bone cancer one month earlier.

Mrs. Jimenez witnessed two world wars and one revolution, welcomed in a century, and, despite having only an elementary education, embraced the computer era, often using Skype to keep in touch with her family. “She was absolutely extraordinary,” said her daughter Marta Nilon of Manhattan.

A graveside memorial for John Haessler will be held on Tuesday at 10 a.m. at Most Holy Trinity Cemetery on Cedar Street in East Hampton. Mr. Haessler, who was from East Hampton and owned the Seafood Shop in Wainscott for many years, died on Feb. 21.

A memorial gathering for Phyllis and Richard Madan will be held on Saturday. Friends have been invited to stop by and share stories or have a glass of Champagne at 46 Maple Lane in East Hampton from 4 to 8 p.m.

The Madans retired to their vacation house here in 1991. Both became active with the East Hampton Town Democratic Committee, Mr. Madan serving for a time as its co-chairman. His wife died on Nov. 13, 2013; he died on Jan. 23.

George Balasses, who ran Balasses House Antiques in Amagansett with his late wife, Teda Balasses, for over half a century, died at home on Fresh Pond Lane in that hamlet on Tuesday at the age of 97. He had suffered from dementia in the last years of his life.

Jeraldine D. Coyle, a former clerk in the East Hampton Town Assessor’s and Town Clerk’s offices, died of cancer in Naples, Fla., on Saturday. She was 74.

Her family’s roots in East Hampton dated back to the 1800s, according to her daughter, Karin Beaver Julin, with whom she lived in Nebraska for a time after retiring from her job here. She moved to Florida in 2010.

Manfred Sobotka, a retired aeronautics and electrical engineer who lived on Round Pond Lane in Sag Harbor for 41 years, died of heart failure on May 4 at Southampton Hospital. He was 84 and had been ill for several years, his family said.

Margaret Ann Paxton, who was called Midge, died of pneumonia in Alexandria, Va., on Sunday. She was 69 and had persevered against an autoimmune disorder for many years.

Ms. Paxton and her husband, the folksinger Tom Paxton, who were married in 1963, were part of the early folk scene in Greenwich Village. Over the years, they traveled extensively as she supported his performing career and they took part in civil rights and antiwar demonstrations.

The Ross School in East Hampton has announced services for Franco Denaro, a cook at the school for 12 years who died on Wednesday.

Arnold J. Cox, a retired police officer who grew up in Sag Harbor, died on May 16 in Dorchester, Mass. He was 58.

Chris Cosich, the founder of Honor Flight Long Island and an Amagansett resident who died on April 21, will be honored posthumously at an event Sunday from 1 to 3 p.m. at Southampton High School on Narrow Lane.

Services for Tyler Miller Valcich, who died on Monday at Southampton Hospital, will be held at the Montauk Firehouse on Sunday from 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 p.m. A Mass will be said at St. Therese of Lisieux Catholic Church in Montauk on Monday at 11 a.m., followed by burial at Fort Hill Cemetery.

Mr. Valcich, who was 20, is the son of Mitchell (Mickey) Valcich and Valinda Miller Valcich. His sister Carin Valcich also survives.

His family has suggested donations be made to the Montauk Fire Department, 12 Flamingo Avenue, Montauk 11954.

Jean Fischer, an animal rights activist and well-known member of the Montauk community, died on May 18 at Southampton Hospital.

Jeremiah Edward Joseph Desmond, a dentist who had lived in Montauk for 40 years, died at Southampton Hospital on Sunday.

Leona Smith, a resident of the Windmill Village II complex in East Hampton, died on May 24 at the age of 84.

Services for Tyler Valcich, who died on Monday at the age of 20, will begin on Sunday.

Virginia R. Erario, a homemaker who was a foster mother to some 25 babies awaiting adoption even as she was raising her own children, died of congestive heart failure at home in Montauk on May 17. She was 91.

Mrs. Erario worked for Catholic Charities in South Ozone Park, Queens, where the family then lived, caring for the children of unwed mothers. She took care of about two dozen infants until they were 6 months old, sometimes until they were 2, said her daughter Virginia Sayers of Montauk. “She gave a lot of love,” Ms. Sayers said. “She treated them like her own kids.”

William Rockliff Claxton III, a surfer and lifeguard who loved adventure and his red 1961 MGA sports car, died on April 22 at New York Presbyterian Hospital.