Former Montauk Resident Gerri Tomitz Dies After Hit-And-Run In Nevada

Geraldine Tomitz, a longtime resident of Montauk, died last Thursday, December 28, at the age of 79, of injuries suffered when she was struck by a U-Haul truck in Henderson, Nevada.

According to Nevada news reports, Ms. Tomitz was struck at approximately 1:30 p.m. in a Walmart parking lot in Henderson. Police said the driver, 22-year-old Nichole Zimmerman, left the scene despite witnesses trying to get her attention.

She was stopped and arrested by officers of the Henderson Police Department and charged with failing to stop at the scene of a crash involving death or personal injury, unlawful possession of a controlled substance, failure to render aid at a motor vehicle accident and to provide information about the accident, and driving with a suspended license. Ms. Zimmerman was in jail as of Tuesday.

Born on September 3, 1938, Ms. Tomitz was remembered by friends as an active and friendly member of the Montauk community.

When Jon Giswold moved across the street from her on Flagg Avenue in 1986, he remembered that Ms. Tomitz welcomed him to the neighborhood with open arms.

“She and her husband, Ed, were the first friends my partner at the time and I made in Montauk,” Mr. Giswold said on Tuesday. “She was very welcoming and made us feel at home. She would often bring over a cake or baked item, which was nice, and she introduced us to her network of friends.”

After her husband, Ed Tomitz, died in the 1990s, Ms. Tomitz went from stay-at-home mom to her son, Dan Tomitz, to multi-faceted entrepreneur. She started her own taxi company, Holy Mackerel Taxi, along with being a real estate broker for the Corcoran Group and making baked goods out of her own kitchen under the name Kiss My Cakes.

While she was working hard in Montauk, she was also thinking about a future beyond the East End by investing in a rental home in Henderson, where she would eventually move to in October 2015.

Mr. Giswold said he and Ms. Tomitz stayed in touch after she moved away, even seeing each other in New York City eight weeks ago while she was making funeral arrangements for her sister, Sue, who died early in 2017. Despite the sad circumstances, Mr. Giswold said he remembers chatting with Ms. Tomitz about their shared birthday of September 3, when she would have turned 80 this year.

“She felt that she had kind of wrapped up her life on the East End,” he said. “Las Vegas was her new home. She was bold and direct with people, and the most loyal friend anyone could ask for.”

Services for Ms. Tomitz were held in Nevada on Tuesday, and a service for her friends in Montauk is planned, although no date has yet been set.