Suffolk Closeup - Covid-19 Took My Friend

SUFFOLK CLOSEUP

By Karl Grossman

“We are lying as low as possible. It’s all pretty frightening—I find myself acutely aware that every day may be the start of the last week or two of one’s life on Earth. Sobering and chilling,” my friend, Linda Pentz Gunter, emailed me.

That’s on everybody’s mind—death because of this plague.

And by now we all know of someone who has passed away as a result of COVID-19.

An old friend of mine who has died is Samuel Markowitz. 

Samuel MarkowitzSam had been a frontline reporter at Newsday, the competitor to my paper, the daily Long Island Press. He gave me, as an early reporter, wise counsel about being a journalist. Sam would move on to become the public relations person for the Suffolk County Republican Party—a right hand person to Edwin M. (Buzz) Schwenk, Suffolk GOP chairman from 1968 to 1977. He later would become head of PR for Arthur M. Cromarty, chief judge of Suffolk County.

Sam was a solid straight-shooter as a journalist and, likewise, as a PR person.

He lived in Patchogue with his wife, Loretta (who passed away in 2014) and their two children, Howard and Helene. My wife and I were friends socially with Sam and Loretta. 

Helene, now Mastromarino, Sam’s daughter, said her father had been at an assisted living facility in Nassau County where it was thought he had become “dehydrated.” He was having “trouble walking.” He was tested for COVID-19 and it was found to have struck him. Sam died at Mount Sinai South Nassau hospital. 

“It was horrible, horrible,” said Mrs. Mastromarino of her dad’s death. “No one should have to die like this.”

The burial was at Patchogue Hebrew Cemetery and limited to 10 people, all standing six-feet apart, wearing masks and plastic gloves, related Helene. Children sat back in the cars. 

“He was such a good man,” Helene said.

Sam was, indeed. 

Another person I knew—also through journalism—who tragically died in this pandemic was Joan Porco. Mrs. Porco had written the “Montauk Mooring” column in The East Hampton Press where this column also appears.

She and her husband, Edward Porco, lived in Montauk part-time and then full-time for 46 years before moving in 2013 to Peconic Landing, the retirement community in Greenport. Some eight people at Peconic Landing have died in recent weeks from the highly contagious COVID-19.

Joan, beyond being a columnist, had been a teacher, social worker, Gestalt psychotherapist, poet and author. I would see her yearly at Press holiday parties and we would chat—she was a fascinating, community-minded, brilliant person. 

Mrs. Porco was a lifelong political and civil rights activist. She published a volume of poetry titled “Gaudeamus’—Latin for “let us rejoice,” which was also the name she and Mr. Porco gave to their home in Montauk. She wrote a book on the history of Concerned Citizens of Montauk, Holding Back the Tide: The Thirty Five-Year Struggle to Save Montauk.

She and Mr. Porco were board members of Concerned Citizens of Montauk and he also had been its president and president, too, of the East Hampton Trails Preservations Society.

Mr. and Mrs. Porco died of COVID-19 within four days of each other, she at Stony Brook Southampton Hospital and he at Stony Brook Eastern Long Island Hospital.

“Covid-19 took my stepfather Tuesday evening, and my mother early this morning,” wrote Matthew Chachere on Facebook. “Each, sadly, alone and in isolation in hospital from us and each other.” I got to know Mr. Chachere, now an attorney, when he was deeply involved in the successful battle against the Shoreham nuclear power plant project. He was arrested for engaging in civil disobedience—going over the fence at the plant site with 571 others in symbolic protest which they defended in court as justified because of the threat Shoreham posed to people on Long Island.

“My mom got me involved in political activism at the ripe age of 7, handing out leaflets for a fair housing campaign,” Mr. Chachere continued. “She never stopped.” Neither has Mr. Chachere. Last year, the Asthma Free Housing Act which Matthew drafted as staff attorney at the Northern Manhattan Improvement Corporation went into effect in New York City. It requires landlords to remove hazards that can trigger asthma attacks including mold, rodents and roaches, and leaks and pathways for vermin infestation.

If only the virus that causes COVID-19 could be removed!!! Hopefully—so hopefully—there’ll be a vaccine and a treatment to do that. But, meanwhile, this deadly plague continues.

Karl Grossman is a veteran investigative reporter and columnist, the winner of numerous awards for his work and a member of the L.I. Journalism Hall of Fame. He is a professor of journalism at SUNY/College at Old Westbury and the author of six books.