Frank L. Marcantonio

MILLERTON —Frank L. Marcantonio, who grew up in Millerton, passed away on Aug. 21, 2008, at the age of 83. Born Oct. 22, 1924, to Samuel and Sadie Marcantonio in St. Ann’s Parish in Brooklyn, N.Y., this son of an immigrant’s son spent his childhood in Brooklyn before moving here at the age of 8.

He lived with his mother and four-year-younger sister, Lucille, on the second floor of a turn-of-the-century farmhouse that housed Parker’s Boulevard Rest, his father’s popular restaurant and bar.

One of 21 members of Millerton High School’s class of 1941, like most of America he woke on the fateful morning of Dec. 8, 1941, to find his country at war. Although still only 17, he felt the immediate need to serve. Showing an initiative that would serve him throughout his life, he convinced his recruiting officer he was of age and reported to duty.

He took his place as one of the men of Company D, 1st Battalion of the Army’s 158th Combat Regiment, the famed Bushmasters, one of the most highly decorated units of the Pacific campaign. He saw action in the jungles of New Guinea in 1942-43 and the following Phillipine campaign. He was awarded the Bronze Star for action under fire and honorably discharged in 1946.

Returning to Millerton, he married Mary Steutzel of Pine Plains in 1947. The first of his family to attend college, he graduated from Boston University in 1951 with a BS in education and sports education. He spent the 1950s as a high school science teacher and football coach in the Delavan/Mochiches School system in northwest New York state. Fate brought him to Long Island’s Sag Harbor in 1959 when an opening at Pierson High School materialized. Together with wife and three children, he moved to East Hampton, where he later taught at Southampton High School.

He found his true calling in the mid-1960s when he traded his teaching job for a real estate license. With an encyclopedic knowledge of local farmers, builders, developers and investors he became one of the most active agents in large-scale land transactions in the area. Perhaps best known for his creation of the co-op conversion process, he was alternately partner, marketer and agent for projects such as the Ocean Dunes, Driftwood on the Ocean, Atlantic Terrace, East Hampton House and Port Royal.

Throughout his life, Frank loved to travel. He was particularly at home in London, where he found friends, business opportunities and a sense of place equal to that of any other home he had. Fact is there were few spots in this world he did not see and enjoy. His travels brought him full circle to Sag Harbor, his home for the past 11 years, the village he had first worked in almost 50 years ago.

Still active until shortly before his death from lymphoma, his interest in travel and business was only superseded by his duties as a member of the vestry in the Christ Episcopal Church in Sag Harbor and his love of his family. He is survived by his fourth wife, Janice Oleanor; three children, Frank L. Marcantonio of Boynton Beach, Fla., Robert Kirby Marcantonio and his wife, Noelle, of East Hampton and Susan P. Coursey of Wainscott on Long Island; and five grandchildren.

He will be sorely missed by many who knew him for his humor, intelligence and courage.

A viewing will be held at Yardley and Pino Funeral in Sag Harbor on Friday, Aug. 29 from 7 to 9 p.m.

All are invited to attend his memorial service at Christ Episcopal Church, Hampton and East Union Street, Sag Harbor, on Saturday at 10:30 a.m.

A post-memorial celebration will be held in the Community Hall after services.

In lieu of flowers donations may be sent to Christ Episcopal Church, PO Box 570, Sag Harbor, NY 11963.