Helene Elise Mahoney of Sag Harbor Dies July 2

Helene Elise Mahoney of Sag Harbor, and formerly of Bridgehampton, died on July 2 at the East End Hospice Kanas Center for Hospice Care on Quiogue. She was 89.

She was born in the Bronx in 1933.

She was a hard worker and put herself through school at night, her family said. She went into the field of advertising at a time when women were not encouraged to enter that male dominated field. She worked hard and moved up the ranks. Eventually, she opened her own agency, and she was quite successful, representing American Broadcasting Company, Halston, Versace and Andy Warhol.

After many years, she sold her agency, and at the behest of Bill Safire of the New York Times, she joined the U.S. Mission to the United Nations. She spent much time at the White House and wrote speeches for President Ronald Regan and President George Bush Sr.

She traveled to many countries with U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Vernon A. Walters, and when Mother Theresa visited, Mahoney was assigned to travel with her. Together, they visited orphanages in the Bronx and other agencies supported by the U.N. Mother Theresa gifted Mahoney with rosary beads, which she cherished until the day she died.

She married Robert F. Mahoney at a young age and cared for him tirelessly before he died. Mahoney cared for everyone, her mother, her sister, her nieces and nephews and friends who were in need.

She was a loving, caring woman devoted to her church and to the people she cared about, her family said. She was very generous, donating to many causes that she believed in.

In her later years, she settled in Sag Harbor. She loved the American Hotel, Bay Street Theater and was known and loved by many in the town, her family said, noting that she would be sorely missed.

Services were under the direction of the Yardley & Pino Funeral Home in Sag Harbor.