Former columnist dies at 80

Maureen Pollack, a longtime writer of the Moriches Bay Garden Club column featured in the Tide of the Moriches, died at the age of 80 on Sept. 25, at Good Shepherd Hospice in Port Jefferson, after a three-year battle with ovarian cancer.

As the eldest daughter of her parents, Edmund and Catherine (King) Pavlak, she attended West Hampton schools, graduating in 1961.

After graduation, she worked for the Suffolk County Treasurer’s Office in Riverhead. She then married Kenny Williams of Eastport, and together they had two children before being divorced.

While living in Westhampton and working for the county, she met and married John Pollack, in 1972. Together they had one child, to which Pollack became a stay-at-home mom for several years.

She was later divorced and eventually began working for the Shoreham-Wading River Library, North Shore Library, as an audio-visual clerk. She retired from the library in 2006.

She was an avid traveler and visited China, Russia, Europe, England, Scotland, Australia, New Zealand and Ireland many times to visit family.

In 2005, Pollack relocated to the Holiday Beach community in Center Moriches. She enjoyed volunteering and fundraising for their annual yard sale and Victorian Tea, which benefited the restoration of the Masury Estate ballroom.

Gardening was her passion. In 2011, she reimagined the remembrance garden at the Masury with fellow Moriches Bay Gardening Club members, where she was a longtime member.

At the club, she served as president from 2020 to 2021, and hosted many flower shows.

As part of her devotion to the community, she worked with clients from IGHL in maintaining the Masury grounds and worked alongside an Eagle Scout on their project at Bank Street Park in Center Moriches.

For the past 16 years, Pollack had assisted her son in selling locally caught fish at the Westhampton Beach farmers’ market. 

“Mom had a passion for living life to the fullest. Everything she did, she jumped in with both feet and enjoyed the journey,” said her daughter, Theresa Pellecchia, of her beloved mother. “She always saw the best in people. That is how I can hope to live the rest of my life.”

She was predeceased by her parents and her ex-husband, John Pollack. She is survived by her siblings, Edmund, Judy, Cathy and Christine. She is also survived by her children, Theresa, Robert, and Alan. She has four grandchildren and one great-granddaughter.

Services were held at Moloney-Sinnicksons in Center Moriches.