John Needham is the Shelter Island Reporter Person of the Year

Shelter Island has always been blessed by volunteers who devote time and energy to jobs that in other venues had required ever-increasing taxes to hire professionals.

One such volunteer, John Needham, retired — sort of — from public service this year after 26 years  as a member and then chairman of the Waterways Management Advisory Council (WMAC). Mr. Needham joined the WMAC in 1997 and became its chairman in 2008.

He also served as a member of the town’s Ferry Study Group since 2011. Although he tendered his resignation from the WMAC at the end of September, he offered to assist with revisions to the Town Code relating to the work of the committee.

For all of his past contributions to the community and his ongoing promise that he’s not going anywhere, but will continue to serve, albeit in a different but still important capacity, the Reporter chooses John Needham as its Person of the Year.

What many may not know is the WMAC is hardly Mr. Needham’s only contribution to the community. He is quick to respond to other needs wherever he sees a role he can fill with his own knowledge and expertise and equipment from the family-owned Coecles Harbor Marina.

“When the town first decided to put lights on the tree in front of the Police Department, they had no way to get lights up and were struggling with long poles. John was probably getting his coffee at Fedi’s and saw them struggling and went down to the marina and drove back his lift for them to use,” recalled former town councilman Peter Reich, a former liaison to the WMAC.

Similarly, when the new roof to protect equipment was being constructed at the Recycling Center, Mr. Needham not only brought the marina’s crane to the site to raise steel for the roof, but worked with the employees for a week or so until the job was completed, Mr. Reich said.

In a full-page advertisement in April 2022, former highway superintendent and public works commissioner Brian Sherman thanked Mr. Needham and Coecles Harbor Marina for the time and equipment used to erect the roof at the Recycling Center.

“When John found out we were putting up a roof structure, he came down and said he wanted to help. He didn’t want anything, no money, nothing in exchange, he just wanted to help and offered the use of his crane and his knowledge,” Mr. Sherman said. He credited Mr. Needham with a safe and efficient process.

“We’re fortunate to have people like John in the community,” he said.

John Needham is part of the family that owns Coecles Harbor Marina, a boat builder and marina servicing boats and providing storage. The business celebrated its 50th anniversary this past spring.

After the Needham patriarch, Peter Sr., an aerospace engineer, was laid off at Republic Aviation, he was ordered to lay off his own staff. Finding himself jobless, Peter Sr. declared he didn’t want his kids to experience the same thing, so he bought the marina.

The Island wasn’t a complete unknown. With their parents, John and Peter Jr. and sister Cheryl, an astrophysicist who has raised a family in Maryland, the family had been to Shelter Island aboard their 26-foot sloop out of Glen Cove.

“So we knew this place,” Mr. Needham said. And in 1973, “By selling everything they had, the house, our boats, they were able to come up with a down payment. It was a risk I wouldn’t have taken,” he said.

He laughed when asked how his mother, Florence, felt about it. “Coming from the North Shore of Long Island to Shelter Island was a lot of adjustment,” he said — but not for the boys, who were in college then. “We started at the bottom. It didn’t matter how dirty the job — digging trenches, painting bottoms, it was on-the-job training for everyone,” John remembered. “Everything’s exciting when you’re 21.”

Peter Jr. was going to Southampton College. He went on to get his degree in marine science while John decided to quit the University of New Hampshire to work full time in the shop. “I had my job fixing boats” and when his father tried to draw him into the business side, he thought: “Don’t bother me with all these complications. Then my father died.”

Their accountant Richard Ferraris helped them handle the blow, divvying up responsibilities “between Peter and myself and our spouses,” including John’s first wife, now Stephanie Sareyani, with whom he has his “terrific” daughters Emily and Catherine.

“We worked our way through it. I was astounded at the bills” and all the rest of the paperwork and red tape, Mr. Needham said. “It was endless. I just couldn’t believe it. And it still is.”

The Island was a good fit when his mother and father moved the family here in 1973. “I came here not knowing anybody,” Mr. Needham said in an earlier interview with the Reporter. “Now I’m related to half the Island by marriage. If you married a Tuthill and you’ve got a daughter who married a Brigham, you’re up to your elbows with Clarks and Mundys and Kilbs.”

Speaking about his decision to resign from the WMAC, “I’m not going away,” he said, adding that he will be watching the activities of the WMAC and commenting when he believes he can contribute something in a positive way. As chairman of the WMAC, Mr. Reich said Mr. Needham ran organized meetings, never raising his voice, treating everyone with cordiality and a calm demeanor. He did an “excellent job balancing the rights of applicants, residents and transients,” Mr. Reich said.

Councilman Jim Colligan presented a proclamation to Mr. Needham in late October on behalf of the Town Board.

“I couldn’t be prouder of this man,” Mr. Colligan said at the time.

The proclamation honored Mr. Needham for “tirelessly working to support the importance of our waterways and the vital role they play in the Island’s economy.

For his loyal service to the residents of Shelter Island, it is fitting and proper that John is recognized for his dedicated service.”

In a subsequent interview in December, Mr. Colligan said the selection as the Shelter Island Reporter’s Person of the Year “could not have gone to a more deserving person.” He noted Mr. Needham’s extensive knowledge of Shelter Island waters and his passion for the efforts of the WMAC. “Members of the WMAC, both past and present, respect his knowledge, experience and wisdom as he handled many difficult applications, especially in the last few years,” Mr. Colligan said.

Mr. Needham is credited with the ability to find compromises and to improve the quality of Island life.

The man who has taken over as WMAC chairman, Bill Geraghty, recalled meeting Mr. Needham years earlier when his predecessor would visit Mr. Geraghty’s father’s marina at a location off-Island.

“While we had been acquainted for some time on Shelter Island, I never had the opportunity to get to know John until I became a member of the WMAC some 15 years ago,” Mr. Geraghty said. By then, Mr. Needham was chairman of the council that advised many town boards on marine issues.

“As chairman, John was even-keeled, thoughtful, diligent and thorough, and strained to be fair and polite,” Mr. Geraghty said. “He was quick to seek out the views and knowledge of other members, especially when applicants sought arrangements that bled outside the lines. As that became more common, it became a battle between satisfying people while trying to protect the waters and shoreline of this island for which he cares so deeply.”

He credited Mr. Needham with maintaining open communication with WMAC members to ensure they each had a better understanding of the positions and reasoning of the other members.

“Had he enjoyed that type of communication with all of those [boards] the WMAC advised, there would have been less stress and even better results,” Mr. Geraghty said. “I believe that it pained him when a solution to difficult proposals, which met the wants and needs of an applicant while staying in bounds, could not be developed.”

“He is a good and caring man and I’m glad to know that his concern will keep the door open to his years of experience and knowledge should I or any other member desire his advice,” he said, noting he knows Mr. Needham “strongly believes that the town code needs to be amended in order to better meet the needs of the Shelter Island community.” 

On the day Mr. Needham received the proclamation from the Town Board, he said he was “truly surprised” by the recognition and said he didn’t do the job alone. He credited the other WMAC members with whom he has worked, the liaisons to the WMAC and Town Board members for their support through the years.

He also thanked previous WMAC chairmen and told the Town Board it’s time for them to appoint the next generation of stewards of the waterways. He further noted the Island depends on the volunteer services of its many committee and advisory board members, firefighters and EMTs, and said he has been honored to be one of the town’s volunteers.

WMAC member Al Loreto called Mr. Needham “an excellent mentor and friend” in the 17 years he has known him. He dubbed Mr. Needham “a well-deserved candidate” for being chosen as Person of the Year.