Obituaries

Joel Lauber

Joel Lauber, advertising executive and local vintner, died on March 15, 2022, at age 89. 

He was born in 1932 to Arthur Lauber and Lee Kolodney in the Bronx, N.Y. Joel earned his undergraduate degree from City College and his master’s degree in business from New York University, and he served in the U.S. Army. In 1960, he joined pharmaceutical advertising agency Robert A. Becker Inc. in Manhattan, where he climbed the ranks to become president and CEO in 1988. He managed the Merck & Co. account and was integral to the launch of groundbreaking pharmaceuticals.

After relocating full-time to the North Fork of Long Island, he purchased a Southold vineyard in 1993 and named it Corey Creek Vineyards. Joel served as president of the nascent Long Island Wine Council before he sold Corey Creek in 1999.

He remained active in the community, serving on the board of trustees for Eastern Long Island Hospital and as a member of Orient Yacht Club and Oysterponds Historical Society, and as treasurer of the Orient Association. He was dedicated to his wife, Christine, with whom he spent his final two decades that included winters in Sanibel, Fla.

Joel had been an avid basketball and tennis player. He took pride in maintaining his Orient grounds with weekly rototilling, pruning and mowing. Nothing pleased him more than watching newly planted shrubs and trees take hold. His passions in life were reading and completing the New York Times crosswords (Thursday through Sunday only!). 

He is survived by his wife, Christine; brother Richard; children Kenneth Lauber (Marla), Caren Rosenblum (Gary), Gregg Lauber (Stacy), Kate Criss (Andrew), Alexandra Lauber, Claudine Hascoat McShea and Christophe Hascoat (Amanda); and 11 excellent grandchildren. 

No formal service is planned. Whoever knew and admired Joel will miss him as we, his family, do. And will long remember his sharp intellect and deft sense of humor.

This is a paid notice.