Suffolk Life founder, David J. Willmott Sr., dies

Suffolk Life founding editor and publisher, David J. Willmott Sr. of Southampton and Palm City, Florida, died on August 9 at St. Luke’s Roosevelt Hospital in New York City. He was 71.

Suffolk Life, started in 1961, was eventually distributed throughout Suffolk County before it closed in 2008. Mr. Willmott’s weekly editorials, “Willmotts and Why Nots,” covered everything from taxation to religion. He was known for his questioning of politicians including former Governor Mario Cuomo and former Riverhead Town Supervisor Joe Janoski, touching on issues important to himself and to his readers, and frequently in the presence of one of his beloved large dogs.

Mr. Willmott’s long interest in politics began when he worked on the presidential campaign of John F. Kennedy. His passion for politics continued over many years and included spending time with former President Jimmy Carter and letters from former presidents Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan and George H. Bush. He was especially taken with Mr. Reagan, whose pro-business and power of the individual message appealed to the successful entrepreneur Mr. Willmott became, said his son, Jonathan Willmott.

Born April 27, 1938, at Southampton Hospital to Mary and Sylvester Willmott of Riverhead, he grew up in Riverhead, working many different positions at the family service station. He attended Becker Junior College in Massachusetts for two years before returning to Suffolk where he entered a partnership dubbed “S. & W. Advertising,” which placed advertisements on public trash barrels and built parade floats for local businesses.

It was at that time, according to his son Jonathan, that Mr. Willmott, armed with little more than a Polaroid camera, a healthy sense of outrage, and an abiding confidence in the power of local advertising, founded what was then known as Central Suffolk Life.

A significant voice in the eventual closing of the Shoreham Nuclear Power Plant, in 1982 and 1983 Mr. Willmott served on the New York State Fact Finding Panel on the Shoreham Nuclear Power Facility. Almost every week for years in the early 1980s, one of his editorials critiqued some aspect of the building of the Shoreham plant. There would be a news story in Suffolk Life every week concerning the plant for several years.

An avid offshore sport fisherman, he plied the waters off Shinnecock while captaining the Y Knot, which proudly announced in the logo painted on the stern that it was from “Peconic County, New York.” His son Jonathan said that one of his father’s strongest beliefs was that the five eastern towns of Suffolk should form their own county someday.

Mr. Willmott also frequented the woods and ponds of Suffolk with a shotgun in hand, hunting waterfowl and other wildlife and championing the conservation of land and waters of Long Island in its natural state.

In addition, Mr. Willmott founded “The Group,” a charity which brought Christmas presents and necessities to families in Suffolk waylaid by physical tragedy, economic misfortune and the like. This organization, which served hundreds of children per year at its peak, was not a tax-deductible charitable group, something of which Mr. Willmott seemed particularly proud because it meant that donations of money and goods served no other ends, yet some noted this also prevented any government intervention.

The Group, which always worked anonymously, relied on the substantial financial and other efforts of Mr. Willmott, his partner Claire Swanik, gifts from merchants and individuals, and the efforts of dozens of volunteers who wrapped and delivered the various presents to the families that were anonymously screened.

He is survived by longtime companion, Claire Swanik of Southampton and Florida; three sons, David J. Willmott Jr. and his wife Patrice of Hampton Bays, Jonathan Willmott and his wife Linda McMahon of Virginia, and Michael Willmott of East Quogue; and a daughter, Melissa Willmott and her husband John Stotzky of Hampton Bays.

He is also survived by a sister, Margaret Callahan of Oregon; three grandsons, David J. Willmott III, Brennan Willmott-McMahon and Ryan Willmott; six granddaughters, Shannon Willmott, Theresa Willmott-McMahon, Madison Willmott and Katelyn, Riley and Ella Stotzky; and his former wife, Nancy Welden of Calverton. He was predeceased by a sister, Maureen Murphy.

Visitation was held on August 11 and August 12 at the Brockett Funeral Home in Southampton. A funeral service will be held today, Thursday, August 13, at 10 a.m., at Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary Church in Southampton.

In lieu of flowers, donations to the Guide Dog Foundation for The Blind, Inc., 371 East Jericho Turnpike, Smithtown, NY 11787-2976, would be appreciated by the family. Mr. Willmott’s last dog was adopted from the program.