With little new to report or announce before summer arrives, it seems a good time to briefly remember those members of our community who passed away over the past year. As always, we strive to be comprehensive in recalling our community’s losses. If there has been an inadvertent oversight or error, please let me know.
Richard Zuniga, a resident of the village for over 50 years, died last July. However, we didn’t learn about his passing until that fall—a brilliant businessman, devoted to his family, and an old-world gentleman of the old school.
Jane Friend, well-known for her pioneering work in Saltaire’s expanding real estate market, which began in the 1980s, died last August at the age of 92.
Peter Lapp, a son of one of the largest and most prominent Saltaire families, and a highly regarded marine engineer, passed on in December after a long illness at age 69.
Ann Bukowski, a much-loved resident for over 50 years, passed away in January at the age of 90. The Bukowski family’s loss was sadly compounded by the passing of patriarch Joe Bukowski, Ann’s beloved husband of 67 years, in May at age 94. Joe built the Bukowskis’ Saltaire home himself back in the 1970s, demonstrating a skill and perseverance that are not often seen these days.
Max Frankel, an exceptional and oft-honored journalist of worldwide fame, but just Max to his many friends in Saltaire, passed away in March at 94. A blow to the hallowed but imperiled profession of journalism, and no less a loss for this community.
Milton Pike, who prepared the Instruments of Surrender signed aboard the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay in 1945, died in April while getting ready to move back to Saltaire for the summer. Not one for reticence, Milton wanted to set the record for longest-lived Saltairian; at 104, he may well have done so.
Joy Brown, 97, passed away in April after a lifetime that included studying under and dancing with some of the greatest ballet masters of the 20th century, followed by decades of dedication to her family and over 60 years of devoted service to Saltaire life (including the provision of candy kisses to new Board members when they assumed office).
Marty Frederick, in recent years a year-round resident, died at his Saltaire home in May after a long illness, at age 85, surrounded by his family and friends from the close-knit winter community. He was kind, generous, and always of help to his neighbors, as well as a well-known friend to animals.
And Frank Mina, who grew up in Saltaire and later purchased the former family home on the bay, passed away in May after many years of ill health. Frank will always be remembered for his crucial work in expanding Fire Island Ferries – where he’d worked since his teens – into the ‘90s, but others recall his days as one of Saltaire’s hell-raisers of the late ‘50s and early ‘60s. Hell-raising was different then.
