I have never liked that intersection. Ever since our daughter and her family moved from East Marion to Cutchogue several years ago, the former Joan Giger Walker and I have found ourselves several times a week at the blinker light on the corner of Depot Lane and Route 48 in Cutchogue.
Marco and Ann Marie Borghese purchased their Cutchogue vineyard in 1999. (Credit: Jane Starwood, file)
The untimely and tragic deaths of Ann Marie and Marco Borghese have me thinking about the passage of time, particularly insofar as the North Fork’s grape-growing/wine industry is concerned. To the best of my knowledge, the Borgheses were the first second-generation owners/winemakers/industry boosters to pass from the scene, which is an indicator, after a fashion, of just how long this industry has been around hereabouts. Their recent deaths have also caused me to reflect on the list of others who passed before them, which, again, is a reflection that a lot of years have gone by since Louisa and Alex Hargrave planted their first grapes here in the early 1970s. But first, a word about the Borgheses. (more…)
The Suffolk Theater on East Main Street. (Credit: Barbaraellen Koch, file)
So I suppose this is a review. After all, it’s an assessment of an event and a place that are accustomed to being reviewed — a musical performance in a theater. The Suffolk Theater, to be precise.
BARBARAELLEN KOCH FILE PHOTO | More and more tourists are flocking to the North Fork each summer.
So, the North Fork has been discovered … again! Every three or four years, it seems The Other Times (TOT) does a piece on the “Un-Hampton,” noting how quaint and quiet and unlike the glitzy Hamptons it is up here on the pastoral north side. They (TOT) did it again recently in an article written by Robin Finn, who describes the North Fork as “a wallflower and an underdog by comparison” to Long Island’s other fork.
I used to have a friendly debate with my Orient neighbor, Joel Lauber, over how much like Sag Harbor Greenport ought to be. I took the position that a little Sag Harbor glitz — you know, a few more luxury cars, a few more good restaurants, a few more beautiful people — would be welcomed, but Joel wanted none of it, and as time goes by I’m starting to identify with his point of view.
And that’s because we just may have reached the so-called tipping point. In the intervening years since this debate first surfaced, I think Greenport and the entire North Fork have developed just the right proportion of that aforementioned “glitz.” Now, in the year of our Lord 2013, we have just enough of those cars, those restaurants and those beautiful people.
(In fact, in one of the categories, good restaurants, I think we’re kicking The Other Fork’s (TOF) butt. But that, in itself, is fodder for a future column.)
Today, if you were to walk into any trendy bar in any trendy neighborhood of Brooklyn and randomly ask customers where they’d most like to spend the summer on Long Island, seven out of 10 would choose us. Quietly, and ever so surely, the North Fork has become the Long Island destination of choice for an increasing number of young families, established artists, influential journalists and published writers.
And the great thing about it is that nobody here — including the “newcomers” — has made a big deal about this latest “discovery.” Nor are there any plans, I’m relieved to report, to organize an annual writers and artists softball game like they do down on TOF.
This ho-hum attitude toward celebrity is best represented by the grief I personally took a while back for writing a column about the time Sonia Sotomayor spent on the North Fork in the days prior to her confirmation as a U.S. Supreme Court Justice. It (the column) was slammed as an invasion of privacy even though neither I, nor this newspaper, attempted to contact her during her visit.
Another example: Two of this nation’s most celebrated (and highly compensated) artists — sculptor Richard Serra and painter Elizabeth Peyton — have homes in Orient, and yet I defy you to pick them out of a lineup of neighbors at the post office or the Orient Country Store. One of the primary reasons they chose to settle here, I would argue, is because they will not end up on the cover of Hamptons Magazine.
Of course, the corresponding downside of this “discovery” includes escalating real estate prices, declining school enrollments and added volume on our sometimes overburdened road system. But, I would argue, a workable and acceptable equilibrium has been struck, and thus must be vigorously defended from this point forth.
As long as there’s a place in Orient village for the likes of art world superstars like Serra and Peyton amid old-timers like Eddie Wysocki, whose overflowing mechanical repair shop on Platt Road is a work of art in itself, the North Fork will remain a unique and highly desirable place to live, work and play.
BARBARAELLEN KOCH FILE PHOTO | A view of Peconic Bay from Mattituck Beach.
Here’s some bad news for those of you hoping I would flunk my boating safety test: I passed. I — and all of my classmates, I am pleased to report — are now the proud possessors of a U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary boating safety certificate and “license.” (It’s actually just a laminated wallet card, but let’s call it a “license.”)
Also, in the days following the final exam, our little 18-foot runabout passed the Auxiliary’s boat safety inspection, which it would not have done had I not taken the course. (Not enough life jackets, no throwing rescue cushion, no fire extinguisher.) And throughout the process, Auxiliary member Ted Webb of Orient could not have been more helpful or informative. And the same is true of his fellow Auxiliary members who instructed us: helpful and informative to a man and woman.
Having said that, I stick by my original assertion that the Suffolk County Legislature overreached in passing the new boating safety law. Licensing is a good thing and should be required, but there needs to be some sort of mechanism for exempting experienced boaters from taking the 11-hour course before they take the exam. In my opinion, only if they flunk the test the first time around should they be required to take the course.
Meanwhile, those of you out there who live in Suffolk and operate a motorized craft better get a-crackin’. The deadline for getting a license is Friday, Sept. 13. After that, without one, you will be breaking the law every time you operate your boat.
Note: This column was published before it was reported that a bill in the state Legislature would supercede county law.
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And here’s another update to an earlier column, the one about my grandson receiving the gift of an expensive baseball glove from Major League pitcher Heath Bell, then of the Florida Marlins and currently of the Arizona Diamondbacks. In this day and age of pampered, over-compensated (and occasionally criminal) professional athletes, Mr. Bell appears to deserve his reputation as “the nicest guy in baseball.” Case in point: as this is written, Tyler, his mother and grandfather (that would be me) are preparing to drive into Manhattan to be Health Bell’s guest at lunch. After that, we’ll be Heath Bell’s guest as the D-backs take on the Mets at Citi Field. Of course he can afford it with a contract that pays him $9 million a year, but no one is paying him to be so very nice to a 12-year-old baseball fan from eastern Long Island.
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I would never be so bold as to suggest that there is a major shift in the air, politically speaking in Southold Town, as there was when United Southold vaulted into power in the early 1990s. Although the Republicans still have a stranglehold on Town Hall, there isn’t a sense that it’s their way or the highway. And Supervisor Scott Russell’s quiet style of leadership and communication deserves much of the credit for that.
Still, there was a sense that this could be an unusual year, politically speaking in Southold Town, based on my observations at County Legislator Al Krupski’s fundraiser Friday night at the Pequash Club in Cutchogue. As you would expect, most of the usual subjects were in attendance. But it was the unusual suspects who caught my eye. As in Town Justice Bill Price Jr., a lifelong Republican who this year is running for re-election as a Democrat. (See earlier editions of The Suffolk Times for details.) Then there was Conservative (with a capital “C”) Town Board member Jim Dinizio, whom I would not normally have expected to see at a Democratic event, even though, as a friend of mine reminded me recently, “everybody loves Al Krupski.” It turns out the Conservatives have endorsed Krupski, but still …
And that got me to thinking the following: with the very-popular Al Krupski at the top of the ticket via his special election bid for a full term, Scott Russell not on the ticket because he’s in the middle of a four-year term, and Bill Price drawing Republican and independent voters to the ticket as he undoubtedly will, maybe, just maybe, some change will be in the air come Nov. 4.
(Disclaimer: Al Krupski’s was the first local political fundraiser that we’ve ever attended as paying customers. That’s because the former Joan Giger Walker and I no longer are owners of this newspaper, whose long-standing policy prevents editorial staff members from supporting or contributing to local campaigns.)
[email protected]w.com
It was love at first sight.
Well, actually, second sight, because I first set eyes on Greenport in the late ’60s, when I served as a summertime mate on a motorsailer that spent the off-season in one of the huge metal sheds at Greenport Yacht & Shipbuilding. However, it wasn’t until the summer of 1977 that the former Joan Giger Walker and I spent any appreciable time in the village, as we investigated the possibility of purchasing The Suffolk Times and The News-Review.
So now it’s been a 35-year love affair with El Greeno, as she is affectionately known in some circles. And we join in celebrating the 175th anniversary of the village’s incorporation, as is currently being chronicled in a multi-part series running in The Times.
Said series would be the official version of Greenport’s history, noteworthy businesses and memorable personalities, and what follows is a highly unofficial version, compiled by me and a few friends who have lived and worked in the village since before Joan and I settled on the North Fork.
The list has been heavily redacted and some names have been changed to protect the reputations of the innocent and not-so-innocent, both living and dead, and I sincerely hope other students of Greenport’s past will share their recollections and anecdotes via email to [email protected]
So, in no particular order:
Lilac, the shoemaker: Pretty much where the ATM machine is located on the side of the Harbourfront Deli, at the northeast corner of Front and First streets, there used to be a sliding glass window inside of which could be found Lilac, the shoemaker. He was a character for sure, and one of his best-known characteristics was never having shoe repairs ready when promised. Legend had it that a Greenport lad dropped his shoes off to be resoled just before being drafted into the Army at the beginning of World War II. And when he returned to the village after the war, he went to Lilac’s to pick up his shoes. Said the shoemaker: “I was just working on them. Come back tomorrow.”
“Frisky,” the film buff: This one I witnessed with my own eyes, so I know it’s true. For a number of holiday seasons, a group of merrymakers and their children would ride around the village in The Suffolk Times delivery van to serenade nursing homes residents, hospital patients and shut-ins with Christmas carols. When we arrived at the home of one such shut-in, an octogenarian widower who lived alone just outside the village boundary, I rushed ahead of the others to make certain he was home to receive us. And what did I espy but “Frisky” glued to his television set, watching an, ahem, adult film. Fortunately, I was able to divert the kids before they made it up onto his porch. And when he greeted us at the door, after having turned off the TV, “Frisky” said simply: “The children didn’t see my program, did they?” Thankfully, they did not. Not to mention ho, ho, ho, “Frisky.”
Mayberry, R.F.D.: Before Southold Town police cars patrolled the village, Greenport had its own police department, which was disbanded at the urging of then-mayor David Kapell. His arguments were mostly financial in nature, but I suspect these three incidents may have contributed to the department’s eventual demise.
1. Officer “Dub” was piloting his cruiser down a narrow stretch of lower Main Street when he ripped off a car door just opened by a woman driver. And when he backed up to check on the damage, he ran over (and killed) the woman’s poodle, which had jumped out of the missing door.
And that’s not all. According to informed sources, “Dub” then tossed the door and the dead dog into the back seat of her car and said: “Get out of town, lady.”
2. During a “stake-out” outside a lady friend’s home, the catalytic converter on a village policeman’s car set a pile of leaves on fire, badly damaging the vehicle in the process.
3. Last but not least, a uniformed patrolman was discovered doing the horizontal bop with yet another lady friend on top of a desk at headquarters. Sayonara, village police.
Businesses least likely to succeed: The bungee jumping operation at Kokomo’s, the club that succeeded Mitchell’s. (See Mitchell’s fire, below.) The clown store. The Eskimo arts store. The X-rated theater at what is today the Greenport Village Cinema. Victoria Village, developer Don King’s (no, not that Don King) well-before-its-time interpretation of an indoor shopping mall (on Front Street!).
Businesses most likely to be missed: Martocchia’s Cigar Store. Rouse’s Deli. Myer’s Bar. The Rhumbline, when owner Bob Copas was still entertaining and/or terrorizing his customers. And speaking of well before its time: The Old Oyster Factory, where sunny, reggae-fueled Sunday afternoons in the early ’80s were as idyllic as any of my personal experience.
Greenport mysteries: What caused the Mitchell’s fire? (Could it have been the anonymous caller who rang my house in Orient before fire trucks even showed up at the scene?) Whatever happened to Luddy, who owned another dubious business, the conch fritter joint on Front Street? (Did he really fall off a boat in Florida or is he still alive and kicking today in the DEA’s witness protection program?) Who trashed Heidi’s ice cream parlor? (Was it really, as many of us suspected at the time, a cabal of village power brokers upset with Heide’s public condemnation of the bid to evict beloved Paul, the blacksmith?) Who killed Carlos DeJesus? (That mystery remains very much alive today, some 47 years after the murder of the Greenport man, thanks in large part to the curiosity of investigative reporter Reynolds Dodson, who died last year. Hopefully, the investigation did not die with him.)
‘Only in Greenport’ moments: How about the time Kofi Annan called the man who bought his Greenport home, Tom Leopold, to ask how he liked the house? Leopold, a comedy writer responsible for some of the classic episodes of “Seinfeld,” thought it was his buddy Harry Shearer trying to imitate Kofi, and almost blurted out something most unfortunate. But he hesitated just long enough to realize that it really was the Secretary General of the United Nations calling to see how he was doing.
Then there was a Major Drug Bust in which dozens of bales of marijuana were off-loaded from a freighter docked by law enforcement officials at Greenport Yacht & Shipbuilding. Off-loaded by a team of dreadlocked Rastafarians (!), who most have thought something like: “One bale for Uncle Sam, one bail for me.”
Finally — and, again, I personally witnessed this one — there was the time the al fresco Bastille Day celebration (including a beret-wearing accordionist) at Ile de Beaute, the long-since-defunct French restaurant, was silenced by the passage of about 100 straight-piped Harley-Davidsons roaring down Main Street to Claudio’s.
Only in Greenport, I would maintain. Which is why I will always love this little village so.
John Miller
My mother, borrowing some folk wisdom from the Disney film “Bambi,” routinely told me when I was a lad that if I couldn’t say anything nice, then I shouldn’t say anything at all. Obviously, at some point over the years, I stopped taking Mom’s (and Bambi’s) advice.
And yet I have something nice to say this week about a man who I had something not so nice to say about in this space not so long ago. The man in question is CBS News correspondent and part-time Shelter Island resident John Miller, who took some grief from me here for a televised report he did on Plum Island that I thought suffered from a rehashing of some oft-told but dubious tales about the island being the birthplace of Lyme disease and the Montauk monster.
After I criticized him here, however, we kissed and made up, after a fashion, and I have admired his work for CBS ever since.
And never have I admired it more than this past Friday night, when he and CBS anchorman Scott Pelley did an outstanding job reporting on the arrest of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the younger of the two brothers implicated in the Boston Marathon bombing.
The former Joan Giger Walker and I had just returned from dinner with friends in Greenport when we turned on our television to scenes of celebration in the streets of Watertown, Mass. The headlines scrolling across the bottom of the screen informed us that there had been an arrest in the case, but all we were seeing were flag-waving crowd scenes and policemen honking the horns of their patrol cars. We were desperate to know the who, what, where, when and how, and all we were getting, as we surfed from channel to channel, was more of the same: crowd shots from Watertown.
Until we switched to CBS, that is. In the space of less than 10 minutes, Scott Pelley and John Miller did a superb job of summarizing the story and the situation. Mr. Miller’s reportage, in particular, was most informative, as he called on his insider’s knowledge of law enforcement gained from his years of experience as a police reporter, as an aide to New York City and Los Angeles police commissioner William Bratton and as assistant director for public affairs with the FBI in Washington, D.C.
In other words, the dude has paid his dues. And never was that more apparent than Friday night on national television, when he and Scott Pelley helped make sense of as complex a news story as we’ve seen in this country since 9/11.
I’d never done this before, but I was so impressed with his reporting that at 9:23 p.m. I fired off the following email to the address I had saved after our tête–à–tête over Plum Island: “John: Great job tonight. Your coverage was very best, by far. (We channel surfed for a while before getting the real story from you and Scott.) Well done, sir.”
And now for the truly amazing part of this tale, remembering that this was a man sitting in a CBS-TV network studio in New York City, having just reported what probably will be the story of the year.
At 9:27 p.m., just four minutes after my original email, I get this back from John Miller:
“Hey! They blocked the road from the Orient Ferry because they thought he might have made it on to the Cross Sound [Ferry]. Do we know if that is true? Thanks for the kind words. ”
Does this guy have sources, or what? Yes, the road had been blocked earlier in the day, and I was astounded that he knew about it at all, given everything that had been going on in Boston that day. And when I responded by sending him a link to Times/Review’s detailed online coverage of the false alarm at Orient Point, he responded again with a simple “Wow.”
Wow is right. I think I have a new favorite television newsman. And his name is no longer Brian Williams.
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When I first met Steve Rosin, some 25 years ago, he was working as an apprentice to electrician Sal Prato. Steve would have been about 30 then, and what I remember most was that he was precise in his workmanship and soft spoken in his bearing. What I didn’t know then, but what I came to learn over the next 2 1/2 decades, as he continued to be our electrician of choice both at home and at work, was that he was kind and funny and incredibly reliable. And, by all accounts, he was a loving and devoted husband to Aileen and father to Sascha.
So it is with great sadness that I acknowledge Steve’s untimely passing this week at the age of 55. That is way too soon for a man of his vigor and lust for life, and it’s going to take me some time to make sense of his death. If I ever do.
TIM KELLY FILE PHOTO | Deputy Town Clerk Linda Cooper administering the oath of office to new Councilman Jim Dinizio last month.
To the editor:
Troy Gustavson just cannot wait to be critical of newly appointment Councilman Jim Dinizio. Why? Because he’s a member of the Southold Conservative Party? Because he was chosen by Republicans?
In Mr. Gustavson’s eyes, does that make Jim Dinizio unqualified? He’s been in office for less than two weeks and he’s prejudging him. What a shock.
Jim Dinizio has been involved in Southold Town government for 25 years and has served us well as a member of the Zoning Board of Appeals. He was even appointed chairman by the board’s Democratic majority. Mr. Gustavson says a Democrat should have been appointed. Find one more qualified and honorable than Jim Dinizio.
There have been many times over the years that Jim was not supporting Republicans or had not been supported by the Southold Republican Party. Jim has twice run for councilman and, as a matter of fact, that year he was endorsed by your paper and on the same ticket as Al Krupski. He has been outspoken in support of individuals’ property rights, as Al has been, and is a fiscal conservative, as Al is and proved to be while on the Town Board.
Jim Dinizio will do what he believes is best for Southold Town and will vote that way. Yes, Jim will probably vote with the Republicans and, as Mr. Gustavson said, “in lock step with the GOP majority” just as Democrat Albert Krupski did while on the board because that what will be what’s best for the town.
The Southold Town Board made the correct and obvious choice in replacing Albert Krupski. Al will do a great job as our county representative and Jim Dinizio will do the same great job as a Southold Town councilman.
Don’t judge Jim after only two weeks on the job. The Town Board under Supervisor Scott Russell has done a great job in this terrible economy and it’s too bad all towns on Long Island have not done as well. Scott and Albert put “party” aside and put what’s best for Southold first. You’ll see that will continue with Jim Dinizio on the board, even though he’s a Conservative, not a Democrat.
Dean Blaikie, Greenport
Mr. Blaikie is the former chairman of the Southold Conservative Party
To read more letters to the editor, pick up a copy of this week’s Suffolk Times or click on the E-Paper.
Yes, it’s true, ladies and gentlemen! You have arrived at our annual Academy Awards contest column, wherein readers of same are challenged to pick the winners of the 85th Academy Awards, which will be revealed on ABC-TV on Sunday, Feb. 24.
Once again this year, due in no small part to a couple of friends who are members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, I have seen all 10 nominees for Best Picture. (Well, to be perfectly honest, 9 1/3 of the films; more on that below.)
And if you can hang in there until the end of this column, there’s a challenge awaiting that could win you a $100 gift certificate to the Mattituck Cinemas.
But first, my picks:
BEST PICTURE—“Les Misérables” is the film I could not make it all the way through. (It was, in fact, miserable.) I’ve always had trouble with dramatic musicals (see 1962’s “State Fair,” with Ann-Margret and Pat Boone crooning in their underwear when normal, red-blooded people would have had other things on their minds), and Russell Crowe’s croaking forced me to admit defeat long before the credits rolled.
Conventional wisdom might indicate Spielberg’s “Lincoln” for the top award, and my personal favorite was “Zero Dark Thirty,” which turned off some moviegoers because its core is a procedural about an obsessed CIA analyst who won’t quit in the hunt for Osama bin Laden. But this contest isn’t about who should win, but who will win. And in that case my vote goes to “Argo,” director Ben Affleck’s engaging, if somewhat predictable, retelling of another CIA-based tale. Note: With the exception of “Les Mis,” “Lincoln” and “Life of Pi,” which was a tad too fantastic for my taste, I really (really!) liked the seven other finalists.
BEST DIRECTOR—And the winner is: Spielberg, mostly via default because neither of the real best directors, Ben Affleck or Kathryn Bigelow (“Zero Dark Thirty”), was nominated.
Longshot: Michael Haneke (“Amour”) — because he got the very best out of his lead actors, 82-year-old Jean-Louis Trintignant and 85-year-old Emmanuelle Riva. But when asked by a friend if I liked the film, I emphatically responded: “No, it’s way too depressing.”
BEST ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE—And the winner is: Daniel Day Lewis (“Lincoln”). You may safely bet the ranch on this one. If ever there were a prohibitive favorite in this category, it is Mr. Day Lewis. His bravura performance as our nation’s 16th president actually outshines his earlier bravura performances in “My Left Foot,” “There Will Be Blood,” etc.
Longshot/Should Be: Don’t even bother.
BEST ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE—And the winner is: Jessica Chastain (“Zero Dark Thirty”). She may be young, but she’s building an impressive body of work, including in “The Help,” “The Tree of Life” and “Take Shelter.” And there would have been no “Zero Dark Thirty” without her riveting performance.
Longshot: Jennifer Lawrence (“Silver Linings Playbook”). Like Chastain, she’s young and previously overlooked. But as with her 2011 performance in “Winter’s Bone,” this one may be a tad too dark and too quirky for the decidedly conservative Academy members.
Honorable Mention: Quvenzhané Wallis (“Beasts of the Southern Wild”), who was 5 years old when this movie was filmed, and is the youngest actress ever nominated for this award.
BEST ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE—And the winner is: Tommy Lee Jones (“Lincoln”). This time, his deadpan delivery, bloodhound eyelids and southern inflection work to perfection as Lincoln’s vice president.
Longshots: Alan Arkin (“Argo”) and Robert DeNiro (“Silver Linings Playbook”). Both of these old pros chew up the scenery in engaging but predictable roles.
And the winner should be: Phillip Seymour Hoffman, but not for his performance in “The Master,” for which he is nominated. Rather, for his performance in “The Late Quartet,” an outstanding ensemble piece roundly snubbed by the Academy.
BEST ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE—And the winner is: Sally Field (“Lincoln”) in a brave performance as Honest Abe’s somewhat-unsympathetic mate. It’s also the safe pick, me thinks.
And the winner should be: Helen Hunt (“The Sessions”). Speaking of brave, what other 50-something actress would consider a role that requires her to appear in the buff for what seems like most of the film?
And now, the chance to claim that $100 gift certificate. All you must do to win is locate this column online at suffolktimes.com and be the first to post a comment below naming the most winners in the six categories cited above — having done so, of course, prior to the Sunday, Feb. 24, airing of the Academy Awards broadcast. Sorry, but in the event of a tie, the value of the gift certificate will be divided by the number of winners. But once again this year, popcorn is included.
BARBARAELLEN KOCH PHOTO | Times/Review Newsgroup owners Andrew and Sarah Olsen
Ownership of Times/Review Newsgroup of Mattituck was transferred recently from Joan and Troy Gustavson of Orient to their daughter, Sarah Olsen, and her husband, Andrew Olsen, of Cutchogue.
Mr. Olsen, the president-elect of the New York Press Association board of directors, became a co-publisher of the company in May 2003 when the Gustavsons retired as co-publishers. He was named sole publisher in 2009.
The Gustavsons had owned the company, formerly known as Times/Review Newspapers, since 1977. Times/Review publishes The Suffolk Times, Riverhead News-Review, The Shelter Island Reporter, Long Island Wine Press, numerous tourism and special-interest magazines, and the websites associated with those publications.
“We feel blessed to be in a position to keep Times/Review in the family,” Mr. Gustavson said in a statement. “Publishing these papers for the past 35 years has been a privilege and the fulfillment of a lifelong dream of ours, and fortunately that dream is shared by Sarah and Andrew. We are absolutely confident that the company, and its publications, are in the best possible hands.”
Mr. Olsen, 42, is a graduate of Southold High School and the University of Richmond (Va.). Before joining Times/Review, he was a vice president of Lowe, Lintas & Partners, an advertising agency in New York City. He is a former chairman of the East Marion Fire Department and recently transferred to the Cutchogue Fire Department. He also coaches youth baseball and basketball on the North Fork.
Ms. Olsen, 41, is a graduate of Greenport High School and Boston (Mass.) University. She was promotion director of Food and Wine Magazine in New York City before she stopped working to raise their two children, Tyler, 11, and Emma, 9. She works on the editorial side of Times/Review’s special publications.
“We are incredibly honored to build on the foundation established by Joan and Troy,” Mr. Olsen said in a prepared statement. “Our goal is to provide our readers and advertisers with the most compelling community news content across print and digital platforms.
“We’re confident our talented staff will continue to do this like no one else.”