Gerald Edward Maslon

Gerald Edward Maslon of Greenport died Nov. 15, 2013, at Mather Hospital in Port Jefferson. He was 89 years old. Death was due to complications from surgery.

Born in the Bronx, Gerry graduated from Townsend Harris High School. He then joined the Harvard Class of 1945, and his interests at Cambridge included theater crafts and The Harvard Crimson. After graduation he joined the U.S. Army and was sent to Yale for a total immersion course in Japanese. He served as an analyst for the Counter Intelligence Corps and was stationed in Japan with the Army’s occupation forces. Upon his discharge, he completed his education at Harvard Law School in 1950. For most of his life, he practiced law in New York City, spending the last 11 years of his career as senior counsel at the City University of New York.

After retirement, he became a founding member of the Greenport retirement community Peconic Landing, where he served on the community fund for six years and taught seven courses at Lifetime Learning, two in constitutional law.

In 1950, Gerry married Elinor Front, a graduate of Barnard College and a member of the WAVES. She died at Peconic Landing in 2003. Together they helped found the Nassau Center for Emotionally Disturbed Children, and Gerry served twice as its president. The couple had two sons, Henry, a staff member at Adelphi College library; and Laurence, an arts professor at New York University and author of several books on popular culture and the musical theater. Gerry also leaves a daughter-in-law, Genevieve Elam, an actress, and a beloved grandson, Miles Maslon.

In 2009, Gerry married Anne Tolstoi Wallach, an advertising creative director and novelist, acquiring three stepchildren, eight stepgrandchildren and a step-great-grandchild.

He was a man of effortless kindness and infinite curiosity. Gerry Maslon took his whole family, his faith and his friends seriously; himself, never. He will be widely missed.

Cremation was handled by DeFriest-Grattan Funeral Home in Southold. A celebration of Gerald Maslon’s life will be held in the auditorium at Peconic Landing in Greenport on Sunday, Dec. 15, at 3 p.m.

This is a paid notice.