John F. Dudley

John Ford Dudley of Shelter Island died at his home on August 7, 2012. He was 84 years old.

He was born on February 27, 1928 in Carlisle, Arkansas to John Atherton and Virgie Ford Dudley. After graduation from Little Rock High School, he enlisted in the U.S. Navy and served in China.

Upon his honorable discharge, he attended Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri and graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration degree in 1951. Mr. Dudley joined the Equitable in 1951 with the Cashier’s Training Program in Kansas City. He was transferred to the home office as a member of the controller’s staff in 1951 and was promoted to securities trader in the Treasurer’s Department in 1960. He was elected as assistant treasurer in 1969, assistant vice president in 1972 and vice president in February 1975.

He served as president and CEO of Equico Securities, Inc., assistant treasurer of Equitable Variable Life Insurance Company and Equitable Life Holding Company and director of Equitable General Insurance Group.

He also had been a member of the Board of Directors of the New York Stock Exchange and Philadelphia Stock Exchange.

On June 25, 1983, he married the former Joan Barsotti at the Teaneck United Methodist Church in Teaneck, New Jersey. They built a home on Shelter Island in 1984 and became permanent residents in 1989 upon his retirement.

Here, he was a member of the Shelter Island American Legion Post 281, the Shelter Island Country Club and the Gardiner’s Bay Country Club, where he served as treasurer for 13 years. He enjoyed sailing, golf, long walks on Shell Beach, building ship models and playing his guitar.

He is survived by his wife of 29 years; a daughter, Laura Hallinan, and her husband, James, of Syosset; his mother-in-law Rose Barsotti of Matawan, New Jersey; a sister, Phyllis Dudley of Little Rock, Arkansas; a brother, Robert Dudley, and his wife Jane of El Dorado, Arkansas; a nephew, Robert Dudley and his wife Vada of Little Rock; two nieces, Joan Dudley Ostermueller and her husband, Eric, of Little Rock, and Donna Beiderman and her husband, Ron, of East Brunswick, New Jersey; grandnieces Amanda and Allison Beiderman of East Brunswick and grandnephews Calvin and Henry Dudley and Owen and John Ostermueller of Little Rock. He was predeceased by a granddaughter, Dawn Joy Leslie, in 2008.

The family will receive friends on Friday, August 10 from 2 to 4 p.m. and 7 to 9 p.m. at the Shelter Island Funeral Home, 23 West Neck Road, Shelter Island, New York 11964. Graveside services, with U.S. Navy military honors, will be held on Saturday at 11 a.m. at Our Lady of the Isle Cemetery on Shelter Island by Father Peter DeSanctis and Reverend Alan Krauss.

Memorial donations to the Shelter Island Ambulance Foundation or Eastern Long Island Hospital would be appreciated.