Lifelong East Hampton resident Stuyvesant Wainwright II died on March 6 at his home. A former United States congressman for the First Congressional District of New York, he was 88.
Mr. Wainwright, the son of Carroll L. Wainwright, an artist, and Edith Gould, granddaughter of the financier Jay Gould, was a great-nephew of four star General Jonathan Mayhew Wainwright.
In January of 1942, Mr. Wainwright enlisted in the U.S. Army as a private. Commissioned in 1943, he served overseas with the Office of Strategic Services during World War II. He transferred and served on the staff of General Courtney Hodges in the First Army G-2 section. After the war he remained an active reservist, finally retiring as a lieutenant colonel in 1960. Mr. Wainwright was a member of diplomatic missions to Korea and Vietnam.
Prior to his service in World War II, Mr. Wainwright attended Westminster School in Simsbury, Connecticut, and Yale University. He graduated from Yale Law School in 1947. He was a partner in the firm Walker, Beale, Wainwright & Wolf, and later in the firm of Battle, Fowler, Lidstone, Jaffin, Pierce & Kheel. In 1975 he opened an office in Wainscott, where he practiced law for many years.
Mr. Wainwright served in Congress for eight years and authored the bill that created the Fire Island National Park, which was finally passed in 1962 after he had left Congress. He served on the Foreign Affairs Committee, the Education and Labor Committee and the Merchant Marine Committee.
Mr. Wainwright served on various corporate boards and was a director and general counsel of the Potter Instrument Company, and the first president of the Miltope Corporation in Melville. He served on the boards of Southampton Hospital, Guild Hall, the vestry of St. Luke’s Church in East Hampton, the Maidstone Club of East Hampton, and the Union Club of New York. He was also a member of Cruising Club of America and Royal Bermuda Yacht Club.
He was a consummate sportsman and lover of the outdoors, enjoying hunting, golf, squash, tennis and sailing. An avid sailor, he raced various yachts under the name Wainscott Wind in many blue water races, such as the Newport to Bermuda, the Annapolis to Newport, the Marblehead to Halifax, and at least 35 annual Block Island Races.
According to survivors, Mr. Wainwright was devoted to his family and its traditions. Thanksgiving was his favorite day, they recalled, because every year generations of Wainwrights congregated at his house on Georgica Pond to share in his passion for family and country.
He is survived by four children, Stuyvesant Wainwright III, Jonathan M. Wainwright, J. Snowden Wainwright and Laura Wainwright; a brother, Carroll L. Wainwright; nine grandchildren; and 11 great-grandchildren.
Interment will be private. A memorial service set for later this spring will be announced in a future edition of The Press.
In lieu of flowers, contributions to St. Ann’s Episcopal Church, P.O. Box 961, Bridgehampton, NY 11932, or East End Hospice, P.O. Box 1048, Westhampton Beach, NY 11978 would be appreciated by the family.
on Mar 11, 2010