Lloyd Filer

Lloyd Filer, a 10th generation resident of East Hampton, died on July 17 at Southampton Hospital after a period of declining health. He was 89.

Born in East Hampton in April 1919, he was the second child of Hugh Chase and Bertha Latham Filer. He was predeceased by an older brother, Gerald Filer, but his younger sister, Jean Filer Symer, still lives in the Filer house on Sherrill Road in East Hampton where all three were raised. Mr. Filer lived most of his adult life less than one quarter mile from where he was born.

As part of a farming and fishing family like many in the community, he had fond memories of growing up on his parents’ dairy farm—helping to milk cows, tend to livestock, cut firewood, and sell corn, fish, and other produce to village residents and visitors.

As a young man, he developed a keen interest in radios, even hanging a sign on the Sherrill Road house advertising radio repair. He attended radio school in Chicago, and later moved to Newark, New Jersey, to work for Westinghouse, until the appeal of maritime service became too great. He trained in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, and Hoffman Island, New York, to become a radio officer on Merchant Marine ships, and would sail to Central and South America, the Caribbean, and up and down the East Coast during World War II. Many of his colleagues were lost as tankers filled with oil were compelling targets for German submarines.

Although Mr. Filer loved the travel and the challenge of maritime service, he returned home to marry Jane Hadder, who grew up across the street from him. Together they lived in Smithtown, where he worked for Brookhaven National Laboratory and Mrs. Filer worked as a music teacher. Before long, they both returned to East Hampton, and he went to work in Southampton for ITT World Communications until his retirement. In addition he was a lifelong member of the First Presbyterian Church of East Hampton, and served on its board of trustees.

His lifelong interest in gardening and the outdoors, acquired through his farming and fishing background, gave him a keen sense of the earth and its importance to human lives. According to survivors, he was a quiet man with a strong sense of family and community; he valued honesty, frugality, and precision and discouraged pretension. A strong influence on others, he approached the world with measured patience, quietly instilling values in his children and in those around him.

His children recalled this week that he allowed them to make mistakes and to learn from them, encouraging them to “read whatever you can get your hands on,” and to travel and explore. His grandchildren were his pride and joy, and family members said he will be remembered for his gentle disposition, quiet generosity, and steady, calm demeanor.

He is survived by a son, David Lloyd Filer of Brooklyn and East Hampton; two daughters, Cathy Filer Marny of Virginia and Ann Filer Bennett of Maryland; five grandchildren, Jonathan and Jennifer Bennett, Allison and Elizabeth Marny, and most recently, Nathaniel Lloyd Filer.

Funeral services were held on July 21 at the First Presbyterian Church of East Hampton; interment followed at Cedar Lawn Cemetery.

In lieu of flowers, donations to the First Presbyterian Church of East Hampton, 120 Main Street, East Hampton, NY 11937; National Public Radio, 635 Massachusett Avenue NW, Washington, D.C. 20001; or a charity of choice would be appreciated by the family.