Judith Brougham Bates, Formerly of Sag Harbor, Dies August 7

Judith Brougham Bates, formerly of Sag Harbor, died peacefully surrounded by family on August 7, in Ponte Vedra, Florida. She was 84.

Born on October 17, 1939 in Boonton, New Jersey, Bates spent her early years in Mountain Lakes, New Jersey, before attending Bennett College, where she received her associate’s degree.

After college, she moved to New York City to work for CBS in the office pool (yes, like in Mad Men). While in New York, she met her future husband, Bill Bates.

Following a short stay overseas in Saudi Arabia, where her father, Robert Brougham, was chairman of Saudi Aramco, she and her husband, now proud parents of Billy and Elizabeth, moved to Sag Harbor.

Most of Bates’s life was spent in what to her was a small town that over time became “the Hamptons.”

When her husband died in 1981, the now single mother of two embarked upon a second career she never expected to have, first, working as a sales associate at Latham House on Main Street, and then as a real estate agent for Allan Schneider/Corcoran Group Real Estate.

Upon her retirement, she took on her favorite role — that of full-time grandmother (aka Gaba). She moved to Dana Point, California, where three of her five grandchildren lived and eventually followed them to Ponte Vedra, where, according to her daughter, she spent the last years of her life, never once compromising her style and flair.

She is survived by her son, Billy Bates; her daughter, Elizabeth Andersen; her five grandchildren, Will Bates, Ben Bates, Elise Andersen, Matt Andersen, and Jack Andersen; and a host of relatives and friends.

She will be laid to rest in a private ceremony at Oakland Cemetery next to her husband Bill Bates, mother Hazel Brougham, father Robert I. Brougham, and brother R. Bruce Brougham.