Frank L. Marcantonio

Longtime East End resident Frank L. Marcantonio died on August 21. He was 83 and lived in Sag Harbor at the time of his death.

Born in Brooklyn on October 22, 1924, to Samuel and Sadie Marcantonio, he was the son of immigrants and spent his childhood in Brooklyn before moving to the small town of Millerton, New York, in Dutchess County at the age of 8. He lived with his mother and younger sister Lucille on 
the second floor of a turn-of-the-century farmhouse that housed Parker’s Boulevard Restaurant, his father’s popular restaurant and bar.

One of 21 members of Millerton High School’s class of 1941, like so many other Americans, he woke on the fateful morning of December 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. Serving in one of the most highly decorated units of the Pacific campaign, he saw action in the jungles of New Guinea in 1942 and 1943 and the subsequent Philippine campaign. He was awarded the Bronze Star for action under fire and honorably discharged in 1946.

Returning to Millerton he married Mary Steutzel in 1947. The first of his family to attend college, he graduated from Boston University in 1951 with a Bachelor of Science degree 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. He came to the East End in 1959 when a position opened up at Pierson High School. Together with his wife and three children, he moved to East Hampton, and 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. Drawing on 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 alternatively partner, marketer and agent for projects such as Ocean Dunes, Driftwood on the Ocean, Atlantic Terrace, East Hampton House and Port Royal.

Throughout his life, Mr. Marcantonio 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. His travels brought him full circle to Sag Harbor, his home for the past 11 years and the village he had first worked in almost 50 years ago.

Still active until shortly before his death from lymphoma, he maintained an interest in travel and business that was superseded only 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, Florida, Robert Kirby Marcantonio and his wife Noelle of East Hampton, and Susan P. Coursey of Wainscott; and five grandchildren.

A viewing will be held at Yardley and Pino Funeral in Sag Harbor on Friday, August 29, from 7 to 9 p.m. A memorial service will be held Saturday at 10:30 a.m. at Christ Episcopal Church in Sag Harbor, followed by a gathering in the church’s community hall.

In lieu of flowers, donations to Christ Episcopal Church, P.O. Box 570, Sag Harbor, NY 11963 would be appreciated by the family.