Joseph Milo Remembered As Kind, Hard Worker

After playing 18 holes at Tallgrass Golf Club in Shoreham earlier this month, Joseph Milo ran off the course, hopped on his motorcycle and headed for Francis S. Gabreski Airport.

There, he boarded his single-engine Beechcraft airplane, flew a customer to a destination in the tri-state area and then returned to the Westhampton airport. He then jumped back on his motorcycle and rode to his Montauk Highway restaurant to pick up groceries, before shooting up to Cutchogue to reconvene with his fellow golfers—and cook them dinner.

“That was a typical day for Joe,” Mr. Milo’s lifelong friend Jim McHugh said this week. “He was always doing something, and he never, ever complained about being overworked or having too much to do. He loved being busy.”

Active, hardworking and always eager to help—that is how friends and loved ones remembered Mr. Milo, 59, a well-known chef, restaurateur, golfer and pilot. The Westhampton Beach resident died after crash-landing his plane in Bethpage on August 16.

Born in Brooklyn, Mr. Milo spent most of his life on Long Island, moving to Westhampton Beach in 1981 after a brief stint in the Dallas, Texas area. He opened Milo’s East restaurant on Montauk Highway in Westhampton Beach, an homage to Milo’s, a restaurant that his family owned in Brooklyn.

Mr. Milo opened a second restaurant on the East End, Milo’s West in Hampton Bays, but that later closed and, about a decade ago, he renamed his original restaurant Joe’s American Bar and Grill. It still operates at the corner of Montauk Highway and Hampton Street.

In 2006, Mr. Milo began running a charter flight service, Milo Air Inc., out of Gabreski Airport. He was certified to fly both single- and multi-engine aircraft and had logged more than 3,300 flight hours, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.

Whether it was through his restaurants or flight business, Mr. Milo had a knack for not only making friends, but for building lasting relationships, his wife, Nadine Hampton Milo, said.

“He just had such a warm heart,” Ms. Hampton Milo said. “He really would hone in on whatever was important to you, whether it was family, whether it was business, or flying, or golf. He would find out what your interests were and try to learn more about them.

“He just had that sort of thirst for knowing people and knowing them well,” she continued. “His relationships were 35, 40, 45 years old.”

Mr. Milo was an avid golfer, playing or practicing on a near-daily basis at the Westhampton Country Club, where he had been a member for 20 years and served on the board of directors for several years.

A week before his death, Mr. Milo tied for first in a field of 80 club members who competed in the Raynor Cup, a tournament celebrating the Westhampton Country Club’s centennial. Mr. Milo shot a 71 and was the tournament’s runner-up after a tiebreaker, club pro Bobby Jenkins said.

Mr. Jenkins said Mr. Milo was among the most popular members of the club, as well as one of the better golfers, with a seven handicap. Bert McCooey, a friend and fellow Westhampton Country Club member, recalled Mr. Milo starting out as an average golfer when he joined the club in 1995. Mr. Milo’s dedication to the sport helped him excel, according to Mr. McCooey.

Mr. McCooey said Mr. Milo would even clear a path in the snow so he could make his way onto the driving range to practice in the dead of winter—that is, when he wasn’t in Florida playing at the Tequesta Country Club, where he also was a member.

“Joe didn’t approach anything half-assed,” he said. “If he wanted to do something, he wanted to do it well. It was apparent in the way he played golf and the way he went about everything.”

A funeral was held for Mr. Milo last Thursday, August 20, at the Church of the Immaculate Conception on Quiogue. It was followed by a reception at the Westhampton Country Club that was attended by more than 400 people.

Mr. Milo is survived by his wife, Nadine Hampton Milo, and three sons, Joey Milo, Nick Milo and Jack Clark, as well as Jack’s wife, Heather Clark. He also is survived by a brother and sister-in-law, Rusty and Maria Banks; a sister and brother-in-law, Elaine and Jim Wheeler; a brother and sister-in-law, John and Ellen Banks; his mother-in-law, Hunter Hampton; as well as various aunts, uncles and cousins.

In lieu of flowers, the family is asking that well-wishers donate to the animal rescue charity of their choice.