Shelter Island Reporter obituary: Lawrence J. Winston

Lawrence J. Winston of Shelter Island and Naples, Fla. passed away peacefully on Tuesday, March 18 at the age of 86.

Larry was born on Nov. 16, 1938, the only child of Murray and Alyce Winston. He grew up in Hempstead, N.Y. and went to Hempstead High School where he met his wife of 65 years, Sally Anne Pike.

Larry was a graduate of the class of 1960 from St. Lawrence University, where he met Meg Griffing and her boyfriend Bill Southwick during freshman year. Meg and Bill would go on to be witnesses to Larry and Sally’s marriage at the home of the Justice of the Peace in 1959 and introduce them to Shelter Island in those college years.

Larry was a proud member of the university’s vibrant ROTC program and upon graduation, dedicated four years of service to the U.S. Army’s 25th Infantry Division, Tropic Lightning, as an artillery officer stationed at Schofield Barracks, Honolulu, Hawaii. He was honorably discharged in 1964 and moved his family back to Glen Head, N.Y. where he began a prolific career on Wall Street spanning 35 years, beginning at E.F. Hutton and retiring as vice chair of The Angeles Corp in 1987, a company he started.

Larry and Sally rented homes on the Island for many years and bought their house on Little Ram Island in 1976. An avid outdoors man, hunter, boater, golfer and fix-it man, Larry was always working around the house, in the yard or on his boats. He will long be remembered as a passionate fisherman, and for his long-running fishing column, “Fish On” in the Reporter.

To Larry, his family was his world. Besides his wife, Sally, Larry is survived by his adoring daughters, Debbie Weaver (Dean) Jamestown, N.Y.; Donna, Locust Valley, N.Y.; and Deirdre O’Donnell, Rye Brook, N.Y.

Larry and Sally raised their family in Glen Head and spent most weekends and every summer on Little Ram. They all have built deep and meaningful relationships with the people and places of the Island. Over the years, they have been active with Mashomack Preserve, Gardiner’s Bay Country Club, and of course the Lions Club Snapper Derby.

Shelter Island has always been central in the life of the Winston Family. Larry and Sally are blessed with five grandchildren: Danielle Weaver Nesselbush (Daniel), Drew Weaver (Jaime), Doug Weaver (Kristi), Morgan O’Donnell Robson (Devin), Matthew O’Donnell; and four great-grandchildren: Oliver, Eloise, Emersyn Weaver and Harper Robson.

Their house is regularly filled with family and friends and the happy sounds of splashing in the pool, jumping off the dock, boats coming and going, showing off the latest catch from Plum Gut (or wherever, he wouldn’t tell you he where he caught fish) and the popping of a cork while admiring a gorgeous sunset or approaching storm.

The family will hold a celebration of Larry’s long life well-lived this summer on Shelter Island.

To honor Larry, the family asks that support be shown to either of the following organizations that were integral in Larry’s life: Collier-Lee Honor Flight, P.O. Box 8001, Naples, FL 34101, Collierhonorflight.org; American Legion Post #281, PO Box 2021 Shelter Island, NY 11964, mitchellpost281.com/donations