Harold Sheprow, former Port Jefferson mayor, dies at 95

The Village of Port Jefferson was smaller — literally — before Harold Sheprow became mayor in 1977.

During his eight years leading the North Shore village in the first of his two stints as mayor, Sheprow led efforts to acquire dozens of acres on the village's eastern flank by annexing them under an agreement with Brookhaven Town. Sheprow also championed plans to acquire an estate that is now the village's golf and tennis club.

Both efforts highlighted his leadership skills and his ability to work with anyone, including those with whom he disagreed, friends and former colleagues said.

Sheprow, a retired Grumman aerospace engineer and the father of Port Jefferson's current mayor, Lauren Sheprow, died Thursday from age-related natural causes at the Long Island State Veterans Home in Stony Brook, his family said. He was 95.

“Although on some levels we were polar opposites, he was an innovator on so many levels,” the Rev. Francis Pizzarelli, founder of Hope House Ministries in Port Jefferson, said Monday in a telephone interview. The nonprofit runs a drug rehabilitation facility and programs that address juvenile delinquency, teen pregnancy, evictions, homelessness and domestic violence or sexual abuse.

He credited Sheprow with helping Hope House rebuild after a 1987 fire. 

“He was always available," Pizzarelli said. "He was smart as could be."

Army vet worked at Grumman

Known variously as Hal, Shep and Lefty, Sheprow was an Army and Merchant Marine veteran whose work at Grumman included overseeing test flights of the F-14 Tomcat fighter jet and a role in the development of the Lunar Excursion Module for the NASA space program, his family said.

In later years he would regale his children with stories about the test pilots he worked with, Lauren Sheprow said, adding that her father enjoyed chatting up total strangers who hailed from other countries.

“Invariably he would say, 'Oh, I was there,' " she said. "He would recall times when he was all over the world as a merchant marine.”

Sheprow was born in Queens on Christmas Day 1929. Between stints in the Merchant Marine and the Army, he began working at RCA Corp., where he met his future wife, Margaret Mary Katherine Kerr. They married on Feb. 9, 1957, and moved to Port Jefferson four years later.

His political career began when he asked Port Jefferson officials why a village with almost 2 miles of beachfront property had no public beaches, his family said.

Sheprow became a village trustee, then won the mayor's race in 1977, serving eight years before losing a 1985 reelection bid to trustee Lou Kash, the current mayor said. She said her father won a rematch with Kash in 1987 and served as mayor until stepping down four years later.

Former village parks and recreation director Ron Carlson remembered Sheprow launching a children's Halloween party, sports leagues and annual softball and bowling contests between Port Jefferson and Patchogue village officials. Sheprow started a village beach shuttle using buses purchased from Grumman and built ballfield light towers from used telephone poles, Carlson said.

“He really did think out of the box. He was a smart dude,” Carlson said. “Whatever we needed, he gave it to us.”

'The power of community'

In 2017, a plaque was unveiled at the Port Jefferson Country Club marking Sheprow's role in acquiring the golf course for the village. Village residents voted in 1978 to buy the 200-acre estate of late real estate mogul Norman K. Winston for $2.9 million — giving Port Jefferson the estate's 18-hole course and two beaches.

"He leaves behind a community that is stronger because of his efforts and a family that cherishes his memory," the Sheprow family said in a statement. "Hal’s life was a testament to the power of community and the impact one person can have on the lives of many."

In addition to his wife and daughter, both of Port Jefferson, Sheprow is survived by another daughter, Madelyne Sheprow, of St. Louis; four sons, Dennis Sheprow, of Sandy, Oregon; Brendan Sheprow, of Monroe, North Carolina; Warren Sheprow, of upstate Red Hook; and Glenn Sheprow, of Port Jefferson; 14 grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren. He was predeceased by another son, Neil Sheprow.

A funeral Mass for Sheprow was celebrated Wednesday in Infant Jesus Chapel at St. Charles Hospital in Port Jefferson. Burial followed at Cedar Hill Cemetery in Port Jefferson.

By Carl MacGowan

carl.macgowan@newsday.comCarlMacGowan

Carl MacGowan is a Long Island native who covers Brookhaven Town after having previously covered Smithtown, Suffolk County courts and numerous spot news and feature stories over his 20-plus year career at Newsday.