George Birmingham McAuliffe Jr. Of Noyac And Sag Harbor Dies June 9

George Birmingham McAuliffe Jr. died on June 9 at Calvary Hospice in the Bronx. He was 94.

Mr. McAuliffe was a longtime resident of Sag Harbor, Noyac, and New York City, a World War II (Pacific/Japan) veteran, accomplished architect, shipbroker, yachtsman, world traveler, dog-lover, husband, and the father of three, according to his family.

Mr. McAuliffe was born on March 30, 1926, in Brooklyn. He was the son of Dr. George B. McAuliffe and Marguerite Laux McAuliffe, of New York City.

He first visited Sag Harbor and Noyac as an infant, when his family brought him to their summer home on Noyac Bay. He fondly recalled many summers spent fishing with his devoted father on Noyac Bay, his family said, and, especially, very spirited sailing out of the Devon Yacht Club in East Hampton and on Lake George, where he won the distinguished Northern Star sailing trophy at age 17.

In 1944, at 18, Mr. McAuliffe joined the U.S. Army and served in the South Pacific and Japan. After the conclusion of the war with Japan in August 1945, he was stationed in Hokkaido, Japan, and worked with an Army unit that helped to rebuild the country under General Douglas MacArthur.

In 1948, Mr. McAuliffe returned to the US from Japan and entered Yale College, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Art degree in art history in 1951. During summers, he worked in South Dakota harvesting wheat and in Texas on oil rigs.

After college, he spent a year crewing on a fleet of sea-going tugs up and down the East Coast. His most memorable experiences from that period, his family recalled, included guiding the Queen Mary from her 50th Street berth into the Hudson River, and barges from Bucksport Maine to Chicago.

In the late 1950s, he tried his hand at corporate banking, and briefly joined the Coca-Cola Company in Mexico and Venezuela.

But, according to his family, his true passions were architecture and sailing. In the early 1960s he attended Pratt Institute and the City University of New York, where he earned a degree and a license to practice architecture. Over the years, he designed and built residential homes in Vermont and on the East End of Long Island, continuing to produce new designs for ‘barn houses’ and restorations well into his 90s.

Until recently, Mr. McAuliffe continued to be an active sailor. He crewed on many famous yachts, including the classic 54-foot yacht Stormy Weather out of Oyster Bay and Ravens out of Sewanhaka. In 2008, at 82, he was de-masted in a fierce storm off Shelter Island; not long after, he was back on the water, helping to rescue a woman who had fallen off boat in Noyac Bay.

He met his wife Dorothy Buck of Oyster Bay, while sailing. They were married from 1964 to 1993 and had three children who survive him: George III and Dorothy of New York City, and Thirza of Woodstock.

For years, they continued to own the family residence in Noyac, and then the Van Scoy house on Main Street. Many older Sag Harbor residents will remember his two remarkable Labrador retrievers, “Sailor” and “Corduroy,” who became famous all over Sag Harbor Village for their wandering ways, his family recalled.

In February 2020, Mr. McAuliffe recalled his East End sailing days fondly:

“The most memorable picnic race was an Invitation race to Gardiners Island. We raced over in our Knockerbouts, landed at the dock and were given a tour of the old wood Manor House with its decrepit old wood terrace. As there was no wind for our return, we had to wait for one of the Devon launches to come and tow us home. While waiting, my Captain and I saw two very large sea-turtles lying on their backs on the dock ... most likely left there for the cook by the trap fishermen. We rolled them overboard to watch them swim, and with three strokes they were gone. We joined our tow homeward-bound and fortunately never heard anything, but someone missed a good turtle soup dinner …

“Another time, we went to Cartwright and pushed our Knockerbout across the Inlet to Gardiners, landing at the mouth of the large creek. It was fun walking on the undermined creek bank and watching all the eels swim out and digging giant hardshell clams with our bare feet, not having to worry about stepping on a broken bottle or rusty cans! We were also fortunate to never be chased off!

“Devon’s Commodore Potter was really ‘hands on,’ and after a race he’d confront you, look you in the eye, and say: ‘Don’t you know enough to take the long tack first?’ or ‘Don’t you know to approach the finish line on the Starbord tack? But beside sailing, we youngsters learned manners, and as pretty much everyone entering the yacht club had to pass our classroom hangout … we learned to look — yet not get caught looking. There was one portly lady that came for tea and wore multiple layers of see though green fabric, with giant Mr. John hats, upon which her jeweler created all kinds of insects … from lady bugs to praying mantises. Paul Shields, with his thick glasses, would come down the dock with his slouched over his crew son-in-law, Gary Cooper, to race his beautiful Starboat, ‘Jackrose.’ Ingrid Bergman would sit in the sand next to the dock, all alone, playing with her 1-year-old daughter Pia.

“That was a Golden Time. Who knows if it can ever be repeated?”

There will be a private memorial service in the fall to honor his life and accomplishments.