Peter H. Tooker of Bridgehampton Dies February 26

Peter H. Tooker, a long-time resident of Bridgehampton, died on February 26 at the East End Hospice Kanas Center for Hospice Care on Quiogue, after a long struggle with illness.

He was born on May 8, 1947, and raised in Port Jefferson. He attended Adelphi University, graduating with a degree in art, despite being colorblind. He was a substitute art teacher for several years for grade school students around Long Island.

Tooker spent his summers and weekends at his stepmother’s house in Bridgehampton. For pocket money, he worked in restaurants, such as the Bulls Head in Bridgehampton (now Topping Rose) and bars, like Mitty’s General Store, the area’s first disco, located on Montauk Highway in Water Mill and The Moon, another disco, in East Hampton. Seeing that he could earn more and have more fun in these kinds of establishments, he turned his back on teaching and became the barkeep at The American Hotel in Sag Harbor, a position he held for over 20 years, leaving around 1990.

During his tenure at The Hotel, he participated in its transition from a local watering hole to the fine-dining French restaurant it is today. At his bar, Tooker served writers such as Wilfrid Sheed (“The Boys of Winter: A Novel”), Truman Capote (“In Cold Blood”), and Tom Harris (“Silence of the Lambs”), and actors such as Michael Caine, Michelle Pfeiffer, (both of whom were in Sag Harbor filming Alan Alda’s “Sweet Liberty”) and Eli Wallach, on whom he accidentally spilled an Irish coffee. One of Tooker’s prized possessions was a photo showing himself, in profile, standing in the doorway to the hotel porch, with Pfeiffer and Caine seated, looking out onto Main Street.

In 1992, Tooker and Claudia Ward moved to Manhattan, and he began his final career in property management, managing their apartment, her house in North Haven, and his stepmother’s house, as well as his own in Bridgehampton. Tooker and Ward married in July 1994, after having been together for over five years.

The couple moved permanently to Bridgehampton in 2009, when they established a photography company, Hayground Photos, Inc. They could be found shooting local events like the first (in a long time) soap box derby in Sag Harbor, the aftermath of Super Storm Sandy, antique car fairs, post-hurricane surfing below Camp Hero’s bluffs in Montauk, and lots of their travels here and abroad. They sold their work at art fairs around the Tri-State area.

In addition to his wife Claudia, he is survived by his Beyer cousins, Bob (Monument, Colorado), Bruce (Sag Harbor), Brad (Amagansett), and Bill (Franklin, Tenesse).

A celebration of his life will be held on a later date.

Memorial gifts may be made to the Westhampton Care Center (westhamptonrehab.com) or the East End Hospice Kanas Center for Hospice Care (eeh.org), in memory of Peter H. Tooker.