Long Islanders we've lost in 2021

Joysetta Pearse, who served as director of Nassau County's Black history museum in Hempstead, which was recently renamed in her and her husband's honor, died June 11. She was 82. Read Newsday's story.

Officer Anastasios Tsakos, an East Northport father of two who served the NYPD for 14 years, died April 27 after being struck and killed while directing traffic at the scene of a separate fatal crash. He was 43. Read Newsday's story.

Rachel N. Quinn, a fifth-grade teacher at Bretton Woods Elementary School in Hauppauge and an expectant mother, died suddenly June 14 of a heart abnormality. She was 27. Her first child, Ellie Anne Quinn, who was due within weeks, also died. Read Newsday's story.

William Joseph "Joe" Johnson, who served as one of the Tuskegee Airmen, later received the Congressional Gold Medal from former President George W. Bush at the White House and served as vice president of the Glen Cove NAACP, died on Jan. 28. He was 95. Read Newsday's story.

Biz Markie, a hip-hop staple with Long Island roots, known for his beatboxing prowess, turntable mastery and the 1989 classic "Just a Friend," died July 16. He was 57. Read Newsday's story.

Gabrielle "Gabby" Petito, the Blue Point native whose disappearance and death following a cross-country road trip with her boyfriend stunned Long Island and the nation, died at age 22. Read Newsday's story.

Vincent Pelliccio, a Suffolk County police officer who was a seven-year veteran of the force and survived testicular cancer, died in an off-duty car crash Nov. 7. He was 30. Read Newsday's story.

Jomani "Jo-Jo" Wright, an exceptional sophomore point guard from Uniondale High School and the top public school player in Nassau County, died on Jan. 27 in a car accident. He was 15. Read Newsday's story.

Helene Johnson, who was the first woman of color to serve on the North Babylon school board and later became board president, died Feb. 24 of complications from heart surgery. She was 86. Read Newsday's story.

State Trooper Joseph Gallagher, who was hit by a distracted driver in 2017 while helping a disabled motorist on a Sagtikos Parkway overpass in Commack, died March 26. He was 38. Read Newsday's story.

Alvin Toney, a music producer and manager and longtime youth football coach in his Wyandanch hometown and beyond, died April 8. He was 54. Read Newsday's story.

Keri Stromski, a beloved kindergarten teacher in Riverhead who missed embracing her students so much during the pandemic that she inspired one to build her a "hugging machine," died April 6 of breast cancer. She was 48. Read Newsday's story.

Richard "Dick" Kraus, a longtime Newsday photographer who spent an award-winning 42-year career with the newspaper, died Oct.11 of complications from double pneumonia. He was 88. Read Newsday's story.

Obdulio "Oby" De León, a longtime Brentwood community activist who mentored children, volunteered as an emergency medical technician and flew to Guatemala and Peru to assist in earthquake relief, died April 30. He was 46. Read Newsday's story.

Taylor Rose Clarke, a journalist and East Rockaway native who modeled a life of purpose and became an organ donation advocate after receiving a heart transplant in 2016, died July 9. She was 24. Read Newsday's story.

Nassau County Police Officer Hector Nunez, a 16-year veteran known for his leadership, brilliant smile and love for his family, died Dec. 8 of COVID-19. He was 42. Read Newsday's story.

Judith Bender, a longtime award-winning Newsday reporter who tackled political campaigns, investigative stories on power brokers and devoted her life to journalism, died May 8. She was 87. Read Newsday's story.

Joe Winters, of Nissequogue, who helped build his family's West Babylon-based Winters Bros. Waste Systems into Long Island's largest garbage carting business, died on Jan. 5. He was 54. Read Newsday's story.

Reggie Jones Sr., Jones Beach's longest-serving lifeguard, a World War II veteran and a Garden City teacher and coach, died Jan. 30 in Rockville Centre. He was 93. Read Newsday's story. 

Det. Erick Contreras, a veteran Nassau detective who was known for his wide smile, street smarts and having an arsenal of confidential informants who could help make cases, died on Jan. 15 of cancer that may have been caused by his service at Ground Zero. He was 53.  Read Newsday's story.

Frances Liebman, who was a driving force behind the founding of Melville's South Huntington Jewish Center, died on Jan. 20. She was 91. Read Newsday's story.

Andrew J. Brown III, a Middle Island resident who taught physical education in the Central Islip school district for more than 20 years and served as a longtime middle and high school football coach, died Feb. 7 from complications of sarcoidosis, an auto-immune disease. He was 48. Read Newsday's story.

Lester Wolff, a retired congressman who represented Long Island's North Shore, influencing  America's policy in Asia and helping create social programs like Medicare and Medicaid, died May 11. He was 102. Read Newsday's story.

Georgia Tschiember, a former Suffolk County judge who as a prosecutor led the Robert Shulman serial murder case, died July 9. She was 85. Read Newsday's story.

Wayne Prospect, a former Suffolk County legislator who was key to stopping the Shoreham nuclear power plant but was later convicted of receiving a bribe, died Jan. 9 after a 14-year battle with cancer. He was 72. Read Newsday's story.

Dorothea "Dot" Barlowe, of Massapequa, who was known for her stunning works of art depicting botanicals and wildlife scenes, died July 21 of natural causes. She was 95. Read Newsday's story.

Lt. Robert Van Zeyl, a veteran Suffolk County Police Department lieutenant who had worked in Suffolk's Second Precinct in the Town of Huntington since 2015, died on Jan. 20 from the coronavirus. He was 60. Read Newsday's story.

Ruby Lee Boykin, a former director for the Roosevelt and Lakeview public libraries who earned a master's degree later in life, died Sept. 24 of heart failure at her home in Uniondale. She was 66. Read Newsday's story.

Det. Sgt. James Stapleton, a 26-year Suffolk police veteran, died Oct. 2 following a battle with cancer. He was 49. Read Newsday's story.

Ernest J. Kight Jr., president of the Freeport school board and a beloved longtime educator and coach in the school district, died Feb. 27. He was 68. Read Newsday's story.

Howard Weitzman, a former two-term Democratic Nassau County comptroller and member of the county's financial control board, died Sept. 27. He was 75. Read Newsday's story.

Janet D'Addario, the Westbury native who with her husband, Jim, started the nonprofit D'Addario Foundation to fund concerts and music education, died June 14 of gallbladder cancer. She was 72. Read Newsday's story.

Carmyne Payton, a 10th-grader who had tried out for the Copiague High School basketball team and made the first cut, collapsed and died at a subsequent tryout session Nov. 17. He was 15. Read Newsday's story.

Paul G. Feinman, a Merrick native and the first openly gay judge on New York's highest court, died March 31 after a yearslong battle with a blood disorder, state officials announced. He was 61. Read Newsday's story.

Alice Kathleen Tomlinson, who rose from Nassau Legal Aid lawyer to private firm partner and later a federal magistrate judge, died on Oct. 17 after a long battle with cancer. She was 73. Read Newsday's story.

Delores Singletary Ledbetter, a longtime teacher at Uniondale High School, role model and youth advocate who was dedicated to enhancing the lives of her students, died Aug. 5. She was 83. Read Newsday's story.

Max Temkin, a Holocaust survivor who later became a photo engraver and after retirement spent time speaking to middle and high school students on Long Island about the Holocaust, died May 22, nearly two months after suffering a stroke. He was 99. Read Newsday's story.

Idicula Daniel, who joined the British army in India during World War II, spent decades training others and immigrated to the United States with his wife in 1991, died May 6 of coronary artery disease. The Central Islip resident was 97. Read Newsday's story

Helene Fortunoff, a retail trailblazer who established the fine jewelry division at Fortunoff, which later became a Long Island institution, died on Nov. 8 of a respiratory illness. She was 88. Read Newsday's story.

Richard "Richie" DeSola, who delivered Newsday for 16 years, died Jan. 21. He was 94. Read Newsday's story.

Carol Cott Gross, who wrote columns about Long Island life that appeared in Newsday and other outlets, died on Dec. 17, 2020, at her winter home in Lake Worth, Florida. She also lived in East Northport. She was 78. Read Newsday's story.

Ronald DeFeo Jr., who massacred his entire family in 1974 in their Amityville home while they slept, a case that gained national attention and spawned multiple books and movies, died March 12 while imprisoned. He was 69. Read Newsday's story.