Candles Light the Way Home For Fallen Teen

Hundreds gather to remember Andrew Murphy, the Stony Brook teen who died at his home last weekend.

Andrew Murphy and his family called the S Section home, and with that home came membership in the community of neighbors known as the Circle of Friends. On Friday night, the Murphy family found out just how big that circle really is, after hundreds of kids, teens, parents and even teachers flocked to Sycamore Circle Park for a candlelight walk in memory of Andrew, the 13-year-old Murphy Junior High student who died last weekend at his home. "The fact that as many people are here as there are now, it makes it so that i feel like my family has more people than we know about," said Shawn Murphy, 15, one of Andrew's two older brothers. "It just shows me that the community cares about us, and it's appreciated." Friends remembered Andrew Murphy …

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East Setauket Native Alice E. Moraitis Dies at 84

Longtime Port Jefferson resident was born and raised on the Poulos Farm in East Setauket.

Alice E. Moraitis, an East Setauket native who was the daughter of the family who owned the Poulos Farm on Pond Path, died Jan. 19 at the age of 84 in Ikaria, Greece. Moraitis was born in 1927 on the farm, a property of more than 20 acres that was at one point home to more than 3,000 chickens, cows, goats and sheep, according to her son, George Moraitis. Her family operated the farm as a dairy and egg delivery business until the 1960s, after which point it became a 15-bedroom boarding house for workers and students and eventually became the present-day Pond Path Estates. Following her graduation from Setauket High School, Moraitis went to work at Delano Studios in Setauket, a maker of ceramic products, her son said. She met her future …

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Grace Vander Voort, Civic Activist, Dies at 92

Village Times Herald reports longtime community activist has passed away.

Grace Vander Voort, a longtime advocate for the environment and for small businesses in the community, died Feb. 9 at the age of 92, The Village Times Herald reported Thursday. A resident of the Three Village community for more than 50 years, Vander Voort took on big-box stores she thought would damage small business; helped preserve West Meadow Beach as a public resource; fought commercial dredging in Mt. Sinai harbor; and advocated for the creation of a waste treatment facility at Stony Brook University, according to the report. Fellow civic advocate Herb Mones told The Village Times Herald that "she really loved the Three Villages and everything about them — the people and places that were there." Click here to read the full obituary …

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Friends, Family Remember Susan Facini

Stony Brook University sophomore died suddenly of cardiac arrest.

On Nov. 23, Susan Facini, a teenager from Rocky Point and sophomore at Stony Brook University, passed away suddenly at the age of 19. According to The Stony Brook Statesman, Facini died of a heart attack. The Statesman reported that Facini had recently declared a major in Italian studies and worked as a student manager in the Student Activities Center dining hall. She was also an avid fan of the Seawolves club rugby team, and on Nov. 26, the rugby team won their tournament, in her honor. Family friend Lisa Schneider wrote in a letter to Patch, "...they won their tournament and, with the heaviest of hearts and with tears in the eyes of each and every member, came to pay their respects to Susie and her family. They presented both the winning…

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Joseph DiBernardo Jr., Former Setauket FD Volunteer, Dies at 40

DiBernardo survived fatal "Black Sunday" fire in 2005.

Joseph Paul DiBernardo Jr., a longtime Stony Brook resident who was one of the six FDNY firefighters trapped in the fatal "Black Sunday" fire in 2005, died Nov. 22 at his Miller Place home at the age of 40. "Joey D" DiBernardo, who was a volunteer firefighter for Setauket Fire Department before he joined the FDNY in 1995, was a firefighter with Rescue 3 in the Bronx, which responded to the apartment building fire on Jan. 23, 2005 that would become known as the "Black Sunday" fire. According to a memorial written by his Setauket colleagues, DiBernardo was one of six firefighters trapped between illegal partitions inside a fourth-floor apartment during that blaze. He held a rope as another firefighter rappeled down the building, but after he…

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Robert J. Kolyer, Former Coast Guard Pilot, Dies at 91

Kolyer was a longtime resident of Stony Brook who later retired to Southold.

Robert J. Kolyer, a longtime Stony Brook and Southold resident who piloted planes for the Coast Guard during World War II, died Nov. 9 at his home in Southold. He was 91. Kolyer joined the Coast Guard in 1941, piloting planes during World War II and eventually becoming chief aviation pilot in Alaska's Aleutian islands, according to his son Robert "Jay" Kolyer Jr. He later became involved in the commercial flight industry, and was among the first to earn a helicopter pilot's license. Following the war Kolyer flew planes for Pan American Airlines, flew seaplanes for Long Island Airlines, and was a co-founder of seaplane operator Atlantic Air Service, his son said. He later became a journalist covering aviation and flying, working for the …

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Cynthia Priebe, Former Old Field Trustee, Dies at 80

Longtime resident remembered for her generous spirit.

Cynthia Priebe, a 29-year resident of Old Field and former village trustee, died Oct. 17 at the age of 80. She suffered from sclerodoma and breast cancer. Her son Cedric Priebe III said she will be remembered as the kind of person who gave all she had for her family and friends. "Everybody who met her thought she was a very gracious woman with a lot of warmth and generosity of spirit," he said. He said his mother loved watching sunsets at the Old Field Club, enjoyed gardening and birdwatching, knitting and sewing, classical music and opera. She was also an artist who favored watercolors and pastels. Cynthia Priebe and her husband of 56 years, Dr. Cedric Priebe, Jr., raised their family in four different countries and five different states …

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Frank Carasiti, Former Three Village Superintendent, Dies at 78

Carasiti spent five years as an interim superintendent in the Three Village Central School District.

Nora Bredes, Former County Legislator and Activist, Dies at 60

Bredes led the charge against the Shoreham nuclear power plant.

Former Suffolk County Legislator Nora Bredes, who was one of the most outspoken voices against the Shoreham nuclear power plant in the 1980s, died Thursday at the age of 60 after losing her battle with breast cancer. Bredes held the Fifth Legislative District seat from 1992 to 1998, during which time she fought for anti-tobacco legislation, open space preservation, and better protection for victims of domestic violence. One year after she left the legislature, she became the director of the Susan B. Anthony Center for Women’s Leadership at the University of Rochester. "Her research on women in politics had an impact on the democratic process at the state, regional, and national levels," Rochester President Joel Seligman said in a statement…

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Longtime Local Educator Dies at 79

Family members said Edna Williamson Zemanian was passionate about compassion.

Edna Williamson Zemanian, a longtime local educator and active member of Setauket Presbyterian Church, died Aug. 1 after a seven-year battle with Parkinson's disease. She was 79. Zemanian came to Three Village when her husband got a job at Stony Brook University in 1977. A 1952 graduate of Bates College, she worked as a fourth grade teacher before landing a job at the university designing and managing community outreach programs for local teachers and students to take advantage of the school’s resources. "For example, if a teacher wanted to do something using the latest DNA research, she would put a program together for that," said her daughter, Susan Drennan. Zemanian was recognized as the Village Times Herald's 1993 “Three Village Woman …

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