Gair Gill Betts

Long-time Remsenburg resident Gair Gill Betts passed away on April 24, 2026 after a long and courageous six-year battle from the debilitating effects of a COVID-related fall in November 2020. 

Gair was born in Southampton on November 13, 1946 to Derick W. and Barbara G. Betts of Quiogue, N.Y.

Gair grew up in Quiogue and attended Westhampton Beach Elementary School. His prodigious athletic abilities were evident as a youngster. He was a star player and clean-up hitter for the Little League Yankees.

After grade school, he attended and graduated from The Eaglebrook School (M.S. 1962), The Hotchkiss School (H.S. 1965), where he was a 3-sport letterman, and Princeton University (A.B.1969), where he was a 2-sport letterman on the tennis and squash teams. He was elected squash Captain his senior year.

In 1970, he enlisted in U.S. National Guard and served in the Army Reserves for seven years. 

He received his law degree from Brooklyn Law School (J.D. 1975) and was admitted to the Bar in 1976.

 
He initially began his legal career as an attorney for the Suffolk County Legal Aid Society.  In 1978, he served as the Law Secretary to Justice Lester E. Gerard of the New York Supreme Court for 10 years. In 1988, he joined and became a Partner in the Riverhead law firm of Smith, Finkelstein, Lundberg, Isler & Yakaboski in Riverhead from which he retired in 2021.

Gair had a large, dedicated client base throughout the many years of his career. He acted as the principal counsel to the Remsenburg-Speonk School District and special counsel to the Westhampton Beach and Eastport School Districts and served as Associate Village Justice for the Incorporated Village of Westhampton Beach and subsequently as its Village Attorney, handling all facets of general municipal law. He also served as Associate Village Justice for Westhampton Dunes and Quogue. 

He received the prestigious Suffolk County Bar Association Director’s Award in recognition of his valuable contributions to the Lawyers Assistance Foundation and for his longstanding commitment to the legal profession. 
He was actively engaged in local and community affairs. He served on the Board of Family Counseling Service and the Westhampton Rotary Club of which he was President and from which he received the Paul Harris Award in recognition of exceptional service and contributions to the Rotary Foundation. He was the championship Coach for many of the Little League teams for which his children played. 
He was a life-long member, and served on the Board of Directors, of the Westhampton Country Club. He won the men’s tennis championship six times and the men’s golf championship two times. To date, he is the only club member to have won both the men’s tennis and golf championships.  

He excelled in card games, inclusive of gin and bridge. He was a Life Master of bridge.  

He is survived by his loving wife Susan Hubbard Betts, to whom he was married for 55 years, and four children, Gair G. Betts Jr. (and wife Gerilyn), Kimberly Betts, Melissa Betts and Randi Banks (and husband Eaghmon), seven grandchildren (Jack, Sonnie, Christian, Emma, Owen, Declan and Teddy) and three siblings, Derick W. Betts Jr., Barbara H. Betts and G. Whitefield Betts III.   

Visitation will take place on Wednesday, May 6, from 4:00 - 7:00 PM at Werner-Rothwell Funeral Home, located at 60 Mill Road, Westhampton Beach, NY. A Mass of Christian Burial will take place on Thursday, May 7 at 10:00 AM at the Church of the Immaculate Conception, Westhampton Beach, NY.

In lieu of flowers, donations in memory of Gair Gill Betts may be made to: East End Hospice, 481 Westhampton-Riverhead Road, 481 County Road 31, Westhampton Beach, New York 11978.   

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