Obituaries

Cornelius O’Connell, a retired East Hampton school administrator who was known as Neil, died at Southampton Hospital on April 8. He was 70 and had been ill with pneumonia.

Mr. O’Connell began his career as an elementary school teacher and then became an assistant principal.

Jean K. Lenahan, a former chef at Trail’s End restaurant in Montauk, died on April 7 at Southampton Hospital just one day shy of her 76th birthday. She had been ill for a short time.

John David Leo, who retired as East Hampton’s assistant postmaster in 1982 after 25 years with the Postal Service, died of leukemia on Feb. 26 at home in Matthews, N.C. He was 92.

Prior to his tenure with the Postal Service, Mr. Leo was a truck driver for Schwenk’s Dairy and Railway Express, and he transported South Fork potatoes and produce to Hunts Point Market in New York City. He moved to North Carolina in 1998.

John Spencer Davis Jr., an interior designer, artist, and musician, died on March 25 in Alexandria, Va. Mr. Davis, whose last years were spent on Maidstone Lane, East Hampton, in a house owned by his parents for about 50 years, was 64. He had been ill for a long time, his family said.

Known as Jock, he was born in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 24, 1949, to Spencer Davis and the former Sarah Kimball. He attended the Landon School in Bethesda, Md., until ninth grade, and graduated in 1968 from the Salisbury School in Connecticut.

Joyce King, who grew up in East Hampton and graduated from East Hampton High School, died on Friday at Florida Hospital in Orlando, Fla. She was 70. Her cause of death was complications related to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, her family said.

Ms. King was born on May 15, 1943, in Babylon to James and Muriel Southard. Her husband, Preston King, died before her. For many years, she and Mr. King lived in Hampton Bays.

Morton S. Eisenberg, a psychiatrist in private practice and on the staff of New York Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center, died on March 27 at his Manhattan residence from complications of prostate cancer. He was 93 and had been ill for one year.

Some of Dr. Eisenberg’s happiest hours were spent in East Hampton, where he had a close circle of friends and enjoyed going to the beach, landscaping and gardening, and long games of chess. Tennis was also a passion, and he continued to play well into his 80s.

A self-taught architectural draftsman and dedicated enthusiast of politics, sailing, skiing, and waterskiing, Otis Allan Glazebrook IV of Bell Road in Springs died on March 28 at home. He was 65. The cause of his death was not known pending a coroner’s report, his life partner, Mary Trabona, said.

Skipworth Duncan Ho died at her house in Wainscott on April 7 at the age of 83. She had been ill for some time, her family said.

Born in Bronxville, N.Y., to Perry Duncan and the former Eleanor Murray on Oct. 11, 1930, she attended the Dana Hall School in Wellesley, Mass., and graduated from Bennington College.

“She was a very beautiful woman,” said her daughter Francesca Weaver. “She was an amazing, colorful, crazy person.”

Earl Lee White Jr., a retired aviation radar technician and resident of Springs, died at home on March 26. He was 84 and had been ill for some time.

Larry Zarsky, an entrepreneur who left a definitive mark on the clothing and licensing industries, died in East Northport on March 31 at the age of 72. A resident of East Hampton for many years, he had been ill with mantle cell lymphoma for six weeks.

Mr. Zarsky, who was known as Larry Z, was part of the original sales and marketing team that brought Bic pens to this country in the 1960s. Next, setting his sights on the fashion industry, he was one of the first salesmen to represent Esprit de Corp., helping the clothing brand to expand its worldwide reach in the mid-1970s.

Margaret Bryan Hedges-Yost, a summer resident of Wainscott for many years, died on March 18 in Syracuse following a stroke. She was 102 and had lived in the Menorah Park senior citizens home there for five years.

Mrs. Hedges-Yost, who was known as Peggy, was a psychiatric social worker at Columbia-Presbyterian Hospital in New York City for several years before moving to Syracuse in 1941 with her husband, Herbert Hedges Jr. There, she went to work for Child and Family Services then chose to stay home to care for their sons.

Vincent Jones of Springs, a founding paraprofessional at the Forsyth Street campus of Satellite Academy High School, one of the first small, alternative public high schools in New York City, died of cancer at Southampton Hospital on Dec. 31. He was 62 and had been ill for a year and a half.

    “Montauk is filled with magic, mystery, and miracles,” Eugenia Rice Bartell once wrote. She shared her love of the place with the children of St. Therese of Lisieux church before embarking on a career in real estate, while keeping up on all the hamlet’s doings as the community editor for the Montauk Pioneer newspaper. After the Pioneer folded, said her daughter Carla Markson, she dreamed of starting a newspaper in the hamlet herself, but it was not to be. She died on April 4 at her Garfield Avenue residence of complications from emphysema. She was 75.

    Friends and family of William G. Field have been invited to a celebration of his life to be held at the American Legion post in Amagansett on April 28 at 2 p.m. Mr. Field, who was born in Springs and had been an East Hampton resident before moving to Ellenton, Fla., died on Jan. 7 at the age of 80.

    Helen Louise Freytag, a bookkeeper who had made Springs and East Hampton her home since World War II, died on Friday at Southampton Hospital. She was 86 and had been in declining health for the past couple of years.

    Known to her friends as Louise, she was born on Dec. 22, 1926, in Greenfield, Mo., to Russell William Brooks and the former Anna M. Barnard. She grew up in Oakland, Calif., where her parents moved when she was a child.

    “He arrived in Montauk in 1979 on a houseboat and stayed for 25 years, loving every moment and everyone he met,” Richard J. Hall’s sister, Carol Hall Murray, wrote.

    Mr. Hall died on March 26 in Huntington of complications related to diabetes. He was 82.

    He was born on June 18, 1930, in Armonk, N.Y., to Esther and Warren Hall, and attended Armonk public schools. Later in life, he worked with antiques and sold magazines. He loved fishing, animals, and scavenging for treasures at local estate sales. 

    Anne Marie Connors, who raised her family in the Cooper Lane, East Hampton, house she and her husband built 59 years ago, died of complications from pneumonia on March 27 at Hope Hospice in Cape Coral, Fla. She was 84 and had been ill for six weeks.

    Those who knew Marilyn Abel, and many here did through her work at the East Hampton Historical Society, book clubs, volunteer activities, and a range of other interests and passions, will remember her for her devoted friendship and dedication to social activism and the First Amendment.

    The long-time resident of East Hampton died on April 5 in Southampton Hospital after a brief illness. She was 74.

    Visiting hours for Martin E. Forsberg of Springs, 45, who died on April 3, will be tomorrow from 6:30 to 9 p.m. at the Yardley and Pino Funeral Home in East Hampton. An obituary will appear in a future issue.

    Wilson Moore Griffing Jr., a 12th-generation Long Islander and a nearly lifelong resident of Amagansett, died of cardiac arrest on March 23 at a nursing home in Freeport after a prolonged period of failing health. He was 85.

    Mr. Griffing, who was known as Sonny, was born in Amagansett on Aug. 14, 1927, to Wilson Griffing and the former Irene Gosman. He grew up on Main Street. When his father died in 1977, Mr. Griffing inherited the house he was born in and continued to live there until the time of his own death.

    Wilson Moore Griffing Jr., a 12th-generation Long Islander and a nearly lifelong resident of Amagansett, died of cardiac arrest on March 23 at a nursing home in Freeport after a prolonged period of failing health. He was 85.

    Mr. Griffing, who was known as Sonny, was born in Amagansett on Aug. 14, 1927, to Wilson Griffing and the former Irene Gosman. He grew up on Main Street. When his father died in 1977, Mr. Griffing inherited the house he was born in and continued to live there until the time of his own death.

    Audrey Bateman Georges, a summer resident of Amagansett, died in her sleep in the early morning of March 6 from complications associated with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or A.L.S. She was diagnosed with the disease in 2009.

    Dorothy Jean Goldfarb, who had a career in nursing before moving to East Hampton in the early 1990s, died on Saturday in New York City of a rare form of cancer. She was 81.

    She was born on Nov. 26, 1931, to Margaret S. Johnston, whose maiden name was Steele. Her father’s full name was not provided. She was born in Lonaconing, Md., and grew up there.

    Justine Kornelussen died on March 8 at home in East Hampton, where she lived for almost 50 years. She had been ill with lung cancer for a year and also had dementia, her son, Frank Kornelussen, said on Monday. She was 87 years old.

    She was born to Frank Barosa and the former Margaret Voit in Brooklyn on Jan. 14, 1926. Her mother died when she was a small child, and her father abandoned her. After growing up in an orphanage, “She left and went out on her own, and worked,” her son said, adding that she was dealt some hard knocks as a child.

    Raphael David Silver of East Hampton and New York City, a real estate developer and the producer of such films as “Hester Street” and “Crossing Delancey,” died at a hospital in Salt Lake City on March 4, two days after a skiing accident in Deer Valley, Utah. He was 83.

    Ann F. Walker, who was a director of nursing at New York Presbyterian’s Babies and Children’s Hospital in New York City before moving to Springs, died at home in Jupiter, Fla., on Sunday. No cause of death was given. She was 86.

    Mrs. Walker was known as Rusty. She was born in Haverstraw, N.Y., on Aug. 8, 1926, the daughter of Edward Freyfogle and the former Anna Brady. Her aunt and uncle, Kathryn and Irving Rose, adopted her at an early age and raised her.

    Calvin M. Smith, who was born in the Hayground section of Bridgehampton on Aug. 11, 1927, died of a brain tumor on March 12 at home, across the street from where he was born. He was 85.

    Ella N. Collins, a retired nurse who lived on Maidstone Avenue in East Hampton Village with her husband, Irad S. Collins, for many years, died on March 20 at the Hamptons Center for Rehabilitation and Nursing in Southampton of pulmonary hypertension, her family said. She was 91.

    Mrs. Collins worked as a nurse at Southampton Hospital for many years. She later worked at what was formerly the Southampton Nursing Home.

    After retiring at 85, Mrs. Collins stayed active by mowing her own lawn, painting, and raking leaves, her family said. She also loved to read.

    Gerald E. McCarthy, a retired detective with the New York Police Department and a devoted member of the Queen of the Most Holy Rosary Catholic Church in Bridgehampton, died on March 16 at Good Shepherd Hospice in Port Jefferson. His death was caused by leukemia, which was the result of myelodysplastic syndrome, a blood disease.  

    Mark Jay Meyer, known to many who frequented the Amagansett Building Materials company and Village Hardware in East Hampton before that, died of unknown causes on Saturday. He was 50 years old.

    A funeral service was scheduled for today at Most Holy Trinity Catholic Church in East Hampton starting at 10:30 a.m. He was to be buried in the church cemetery on Cedar Street.