Gloria M. Koza

Gloria M. Koza of Montauk died on November 29 at her home. She was 89.

Born to Fred and Evelyn Wendt on February 20, 1919, in the Bronx, she moved with her family to Farmingdale, where she attended Saint Kilian Catholic School. In 1938, she graduated from Queen of the Rosary Academy in Amityville and for three years worked as a dental assistant for Carl Friedman in the Village of Farmingdale.

She married Edward Koza of Farmingdale on June 15, 1940, and together they bought a home in Venetian Shores, Lindenhurst, where they raised three children. She worked for Grumman in Bethpage and was named head of the blueprint department.

In 1950, her parents bought property on South Dorset Road in Montauk and built a summer cottage overlooking Montauk Village, the ocean, the lighthouse and Connecticut.

After her mother’s death in 1953, her father spent summers staying in the cottage and fishing in the surf and stayed with Mrs. Koza through the winters until his death in 1956.

It was her father who convinced her to buy property on Second House Road and build three cottages. After working with John Craft Real Estate to buy the land, she named the new concern “The Ebb Tide Cottages” and rented them through the Montauk Chamber of Commerce by the week or weekend until she eventually sold them.

When her husband retired from Republic Aviation in Farmingdale in 1970, he converted her parents’ summer cottage to a year-round home. Then they sold their Lindenhurst home, Ms. Koza quit her job at Grumman, and the couple became full-time Montauk residents. As Ms. Koza wrote before she died: “Montauk is a community of neighbors and friends, like one big family.”

She is survived by two daughters, Mary Anne Lynchard of Deer Park and Gloria Lee of Rocky Point; a son, Joseph Koza of Nevada; eight grandchildren; and 10 great-grandchildren. Her husband, Edward Koza, predeceased her in 2003.

The family will receive visitors on Thursday, December 4, from 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 p.m. at Yardley and Pino Funeral Home in East Hampton. A memorial mass will be held on Friday, December 5, at 10 a.m. at St. Therese Church in Montauk, followed by interment at St. Charles Cemetery in Farmingdale.

In lieu of flowers, donations to the American Cancer Society, P.O. Box 102454, Atlanta, GA 30368-2454; American Heart Association, 1 Union Street, #301, Robbinsville, NJ 08691-4183; or American Diabetes Association Research Foundation, Attn: Individual Giving Department, 1701 North Beauregard Street, Alexandria, VA 22311, would be appreciated by the family.