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The first time Dennis Farrell met Douglas Warren Murtha, who would eventually become his brother-in-law, he was impressed.
“I met him when I was in my mid 20s,” Mr. Farrell said. “How can you not like a guy who owns a lot of restaurants and clubs?”
Over the course of his life, not only was Mr. Murtha a three-term mayor of Southampton Village, he was also the owner of several local establishments, among them the Driver’s Seat in Southampton Village and the Chart Inn in Hampton Bays.
“He knew so many people in his travels,” Mr. Farrell said. “He could be in Florida, Manhattan or around the East End, and would run into people he knew. They always had kind words and memories.”
Mr. Murtha, who was 74, died on June 8 at Broadlawn Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Amityville. A funeral Mass was held on Monday morning at the Basilica of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary in Southampton.
Mr. Murtha was born in Brooklyn on March 4, 1942, to John and Anne Bauer Murtha. The family eventually moved to Seaford, where he and his three brothers, Jack, Bob and Gary, grew up.
As a young man, Mr. Murtha was an athlete who participated in wrestling and football. At Hofstra University, he was honored as an all-time letterman for his performance on the football team, playing as a linebacker and a running back in 1962 and 1963.
After graduating from Hofstra, he went on to become a teacher and the athletic director at the Lawrence Woodmere Academy in Woodmere.
Mr. Murtha would tend bar on the South Fork in the summers, and he moved east in the 1970s to open the Cruiser Club in Hampton Bays. Following the success of that nightclub, he opened the Chart Inn on the canal in Hampton Bays, which became a popular dining spot.
“Doug was wonderful, warm, inclusive and had a great sense of humor,” Mr. Farrell said.
While working in the Hamptons, Mr. Murtha met Susan Farrell, who was doing the same thing. They were married in 1976 at Saint Agnes Cathedral in Rockville Centre and raised two sons, Douglas and Robert, in Southampton. Doug Murtha Jr., 37, lives in Texas, and Robert Murtha, 27, lives in Georgia.
Beginning in the 1970s, Mr. Murtha and a partner, John Barnhill, owned the Driver’s Seat in Southampton Village, which was a fixture on Jobs Lane for more than 40 years, before selling it in 2005 to Irma Herzog.
Mr. Murtha was first elected mayor of the Village of Southampton in 1993. He served three two-year terms, and he was known for helping to provide access to village beaches as well as access for handicapped and physically challenged residents and guests in the business district.
“I believe Doug was instrumental in negotiating the land for what is now the Rogers Memorial Library, as well as the land for what is the Police Justice Center,” Mr. Farrell said. “Probably the biggest of his accomplishments was the compliance for people with disabilities at the beach, [the Long Island Rail Road] and in the business district in the village.”
A former Southampton resident, Wendy Wagner, had worked with Mr. Murtha to make more areas accessible for the handicapped for 17 years, beginning when he was mayor Southampton Village. “He was an amazing man,” she said. “He was totally committed to the project.”
One of the things he would say, she said, was “Someday, everything will be accessible, and nobody will think about any of this.”
The last time she saw Mr. Murtha, who had Alzheimer’s disease, he told her that he did not know who he was.
“I said, ‘Doug, you’re a great man and everyone loves you,’” she said.
Along with serving as the mayor of Southampton, Mr. Murtha was a member of the Southampton Rotary Club, Kiwanis and Southampton Little League. He loved playing golf and boating, and he was a huge New York Giants fan.
At a Southampton Village Board meeting on June 9, current Southampton Village Mayor Mark Epley noted the death of Mr. Murtha, who had lived right down the block.
“He loved Southampton and was a good community guy,” Mr. Epley said. “He will be missed, but I know he’s in a better place.”
In addition to his wife, sons, and two brothers, Bob and Gary, Mr. Murtha is survived by three grandchildren, Cadence, Kaia and Madeleine.
Greg Wehner on Jun 9, 2016