Edward Douglas Warner of Shelter Island died on December 29 at Southampton Hospital. He was 82.
Known to his family and friends as Doug, Mr. Warner was born on June 20, 1931, the son of Edward J. Warner and Elizabeth (Hallock) Warner. He grew up in Quogue, helping his father, a commercial fisherman, eeling in the Shinnecock Bay.
He graduated from Westhampton High School and Stroudsburg College in Pennsylvania. He was drafted during the Korean War shortly after graduation and served in Korea for two years as a medical attendant in the U.S. Army.
On his return from the war, he continued his summer job, working at Bohack’s supermarket, where he became a manager and set up many of their markets on Long Island.
In 1960, he bought his own grocery store, Pat and Howard’s Market in Quogue. In 1965 he bought another store, Fedi’s Market, on North Main Street in East Hampton. Mr. Warner and his family moved to East Hampton shortly after that. He sold Pat and Howard’s Market and in 1969 he opened a second Fedi’s Market on Shelter Island. The Shelter Island store stayed open every day until March 31, 2013.
From 1973 to 1979 he also had a hand in building and running Jan-Su Stables, a horse farm named after his two daughters, Jan and Sue. At the time, the horse farm was one of the largest on the East End, with 56 stalls and a 200-by-96-foot indoor arena. He put on many successful indoor and outdoor horse shows at the stables. This led him to become one of the founding committee members of the Hampton Classic Horse Show.
By the early 1980s he had sold the East Hampton market and the horse farm and gave all his attention to Fedi’s on Shelter Island. For 44 years, Mr. Warner and his store were pillars of the small island community.
His allegiance to the town and the Shelter Island Fire Department developed over those years. His family said he would open the store after hours if the department needed him, and when his Parkinson’s disease got too bad, he gave a key to the department’s ladies auxiliary so they would always be able to serve the firefighters.
He also enjoyed donating the Fedi’s food raffle to the Fire Department’s annual Country Fair.
He is survived by two daughters, Jan Warner of East Hampton and Susan Warner of Sag Harbor; and by Dorothy Kosowski, his longtime companion.
Visiting hours were at the Shelter Island Funeral Home, where services were conducted by the Shelter Island Fire Department, Shelter Island American Legion and Father Peter DeSanctis.
Memorial donations may be made to the Shelter Island Fire Department, 49 North Ferry Road, Shelter Island, NY 11964 or East End Hospice, P.O. Box 1048, Westhampton Beach, NY 11978.
on Jan 13, 2014