Former Quogue Mayor T. Decker Orr dies at 89

T. Decker Orr, a longtime Quogue resident, former village mayor and champion of land conservation, died at his home on Saturday, July 3. He was 89.

Mr. Orr served as village mayor from 1980 until 1990. During his decade-long tenure, he oversaw the village’s purchase of wetlands on the bay side of Dune Road east of the Quogue bridge, and earned a reputation as being an unofficial “one-man” code enforcement officer and village assessor, said Peter Sartorius, the current mayor of Quogue.

“Mainly, he was interested in keeping the village the way it was and the way it has been historically,” Mr. Sartorius said.

A passionate sailor, Mr. Orr served as commodore of the Shinnecock Yacht Club in 1966 and 1967. He was also an usher at the Church of the Atonement in Quogue and was involved with the village’s principal civic organization, the Quogue Association, according to his daughter, Lisa Orr.

“He really had the best interest of the Village of Quogue at heart,” she said. “He really loved being mayor.”

In addition to the village that he called home since the 1950s, Mr. Orr was very passionate about land conservation, his daughter said. He was past chairman of the Long Island Chapter of the Nature Conservancy, and was instrumental in the creation in the 1970s of the South Shore Nature Center, a 200-acre park in East Islip.

“It was really quite an accomplishment,” Ms. Orr said of the park that her father helped establish in his former hometown. “And really his idea.”

Before moving to Quogue full-time, Mr. Orr lived in Amityville, Bay Shore and East Islip. He owned his home on Dune Road in Quogue since the 1950s, according to Ms. Orr.

Charles Mott, 78, a friend of Mr. Orr who has served on the village’s Zoning Board of Appeals for more than 30 years, agreed that Mr. Orr strongly believed in land preservation, noting that “he was into nature and the environment before that kind of interest was as prevalent as it is today.”

Mr. Orr also had a soft spot for animals, his daughter said, recalling the “menagerie” of pets they had at their home, from llamas to cats.

She also remembered her father as a generous man, a hard worker and a great host who loved to socialize with friends at his home.

“People often walked up from the beach and had lunch and cocktails on our deck,” she said. “I doubt he ever said ‘no’ to anybody that came to him for help.”

Mr. Mott also recalled his friend being a popular man, describing him as “a guy with a huge heart and a thousand friends.”

Mr. Orr served as a field artillery officer during World War II, and was stationed in the Pacific until 1947. At the time of his discharge, he had achieved the rank of captain. After the war, he worked for 10 years in marketing and engineering with the Shell Oil Company.

Switching career paths to the world of corporate finance, he was a partner at G.L. Ohrstrom & Co. in New York City for seven years, and then a partner of C. J. Lawrence & Co., also in Manhattan, and its succeeding companies until 1976.

Ms. Orr said her father worked hard and spent long hours commuting to his jobs in Manhattan to support his family before retiring.

“He was a great provider for his wife and children,” Ms. Orr said.

Mr. Orr is survived by his wife, Betty; two daughters, Susan Rowe of Coquille, Oregon, and Lisa Orr of Burkittsville, Maryland; and four grandchildren, Jeremy Mason, Ashley Rowe, Chet Rowe and Mimi Cottingham.

Services were held on Monday, July 5, at Follett & Werner Funeral Home in Westhampton Beach. A funeral was held at 11 a.m. on Tuesday, July 6, at the Church of the Atonement in Quogue, with interment following at Quogue Cemetery. A memorial service will be held at a later date.

In lieu of flowers, donations to the Long Island Chapter of the Nature Conservancy, 250 Lawrence Hill Road, Cold Spring Harbor, NY 11724, would be appreciated by the family.