2024 saw multiple notable Long Island figures pass away. Ranging from athletes, novelists, politicians, leaders and educators, there are important members of the community who are no longer with us.
Buddy Harrelson
Buddy Harrelson, one of the first stars of the New York Mets, a member of the 1969 World Series championship club, and a former owner of the Long Island Ducks, died at the age of 79 on Jan. 11.
Harrelson played 13 seasons with the Mets from 1965-1977, accruing two All-Star Game nods while winning the 1971 Gold Glove at shortstop. He rejoined the Mets as a coach in 1982 and again from 1985 to 1990 before serving a quick stint as manager. He later became the co-owner and senior vice president of baseball for the Ducks in 2000.
Jim Simons
Jim Simons, the billionaire hedge fund leader, mathematical genius, and philanthropist from East Setauket who last year made a record-setting $500 million donation to Stony Brook University, died May 10. He was 86.
Simons in 1976 won the Oswald Veblen Prize of the American Mathematical Society. Two years later, he founded Monemetrics, a hedge fund that later became Renaissance Technologies and created the exclusive Medallion Fund, legendary for its decades of 71% annual returns.
Christopher Carini
Christopher Carini, a Town of Hempstead councilman who has represented the town’s fifth district since 2019, died unexpectedly at 49 on July 14.
Carini, a Republican, represented parts of Wantagh, Bellmore, Merrick, Freeport, and Seaford on the Hempstead Town Board. Carini himself was a resident of Seaford. Prior to running for office, he was a decorated police officer, having served in the New York City Police Department, the Metropolitan Transit Authority Police Department, and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey Police Department in numerous capacities over a span of 22 years. He also served as a trustee for the Port Authority PBA.
Nelson DeMille
Nelson DeMille, the prolific bestselling novelist whose success over a decades-long career made him one of the biggest modern-day celebrities to call Long Island home, died on Sept. 17 at 81.
By the Rivers of Babylon, DeMille’s first major novel, was published in 1978. He went on to write 23 novels, 17 of which were bestsellers — seven reaching No. 1 on The New York Times Bestsellers List for novels. A longtime Garden City resident, he often drew inspiration from his roots with books such as Plum Island about the animal disease lab, The Gold Coast set on the North Shore of Nassau County and The Maze based on the Gilgo Beach serial killer case.
Connor Kasin
Connor Kasin, 17, of Massapequa, died on Nov. 30 at a memorial hockey game in Bethpage.
The Massapequa hockey team was playing against the Syosset High School team when Kasin collapsed during intermission. The Nassau County Police Department said Kasin lost consciousness on the ice during the hockey game’s intermission. Nassau police arrived at the scene at about 9 p.m. and continued CPR, which civilians had started upon his collapse, police said. Police said Kasin was taken to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead by hospital staff.
