James Gerald Herbert

James Gerald Herbert of Southampton died on October 25 at his home. He was 100.

Mr. Herbert’s amibition became apparent at the age of 10, when he purchased his first car, a Model T-Ford, even though he could not reach the brake peddle; he drove past his house three times before he could stop the car.

Born on May 12, 1908, in Wolver Hampton, England, he came to the United States in 1910 with his parents Jane R. and Charles Herbert and an older brother, Arthur L. Herbert.

Always looking toward the future, he saved $10 a month raising chickens and selling their eggs, which he used to buy plots of land near his parent’s home in Southampton Village. Working a butcher on Hill Street he learned the trade and helped with deliveries by horse and wagon. All this he did before graduating from high school in 1925. A year after graduation, he became manager of the Bohack grocery stores in Westhampton Beach and East Hampton from 1926 to 1932.

He sold two of his village properties to buy his first market and in 1932 opened it at 64 Main Street in Southampton. In 1933, at the abolishment of prohibition, he founded Herbert and Rist Liquor Store on Jobs Lane. Later, in 1949 he purchased the Lafayette Market in Palm Beach, Florida, where he spent his winters working and living—and his summers in Southampton overseeing his various enterprises—until 2003.

During World War II, Mr. Herbert was a member of the New York State Guard. He was a past president of Suffolk County Wine & Liquor Association. He served numerous years on the Southampton Village Zoning Board of Appeals and served on the Southampton Hospital Board in the 1940s. In addition, he was an exempt member of the Southampton Hose Company #1; a fourth degree Knight of Columbus; a lifetime member of the Benevolent & Protective Order of Elks; a founding member of the Southampton Golf Club; and a past member of the Southampton Bath & Tennis Club, the Rotary Club of Palm Beach and the Sail Fish Club of Palm Beach.

He is survived by two daughters and their husbands, Ann H. and Albert Frankenbach, and Kathleen H. and Arthur B. Hull III; two sons, Arthur M. Herbert and his wife Sherry and James Gerald Herbert Jr; six granddaughters and their husbands, Carol F. and Robert Pike, Debbie N. and Doug Mayman, Maura H. and Michael Foreman, Lynn Frankenbach-Goleski, Sandra Nath Wright, and Eva Nath Hume; nine grandsons and their wives, James A. and Erin Frankenbach, Peter M. & Anna Herbert, Timothy Halton and Geraldine Hull, Rudy Nath Jr., James Gerald Herbert III, Arthur B. Hull V, James Geoffrey Hull, Terrence Harold Hull and Mark Alexander; 17 great-grandchildren; and one great-great-grandchild. In addition, he is survived by three stepdaughters and their husbands, Nancy and Tom Sayre, Dottie and Gil Tennant, Mary and Merril Hildreth; and two stepsons, George Lewis, and John and his wife Bernice Holden.

His first wife Eva H. Gilmartin, with whom he fathered five children, predeceased him in 1968, after 37 years of marriage. A second wife, Dorothy Rains Lewis, predeceased in 1991, after 22 years of marriage. In addition he was predeceased by three brothers, Arthur L. Herbert, Norman C. Herbert and Harold F. Herbert, a daughter, Eva-Jane Herbert Nath, and a grandson, Mark Foster Hull.

The family will receive visitors on Friday, October 31, from 3 to 6 p.m. at the O’Connell Funeral Home in Southampton. A funeral service will be held on Saturday, November 1, at 11 a.m. at Sacred Hearts of Jesus & Mary Church in Southampton, followed by interment at the church cemetery.

In lieu of flowers, donations to East End Hospice, P.O. Box 1048, Westhampton Beach, NY 11978; Dominican Sisters, P.O Box 1028, Hampton Bays, NY 11946; Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary Church, 168 Hill Street, Southampton, NY 11968; or to Southampton Hospital Foundation, 240 Meeting House Lane, Southampton, NY 11968 would be appreciated by the family.