Friends, Family Mourn 'Force For Riverhead' Lost To Coronavirus

RIVERHEAD, NY — The Riverhead community was cloaked in mourning Monday as one of its greatest advocates, former Riverhead Business Improvement District president Raymond Pickersgill, died at 71 after battling the new coronavirus.

As news spread, family and friends shared memories and heartfelt tributes to a man who was a bright light on the Riverhead canvas, the creative force behind many popular events — including Alive on 25, the Cardboard Boat Race, the indoor Farmers Market, fireworks, and the well-loved antique car show — that drew crowds to the downtown he worked so hard to revitalize.

Pickersgill owned the Robert James Salon on Main Street and was a familiar face — and friend — to the countless whose lives he touched.

"I would like to give those of you who have been lucky enough to have known my father Raymond Pickersgill comfort and thanks and love for all your prayers and wishes," his daughter Lisa wrote on Facebook Monday. "My mother Margaret Pickersgill and my family are in a surreal place. My father was a kind, amazing man that I was lucky enough to say was my father. He was an amazing son, brother, husband, father, uncle, brother-in-law, cousin, godfather, grandfather, grandfather uncle to Derek, and friend. He was smart, with a heart of gold — and savvy."

Her father, she added, "loved unconditionally. He was so proud to be involved in the county and town he adopted — Riverhead. The friends he made and the fun he had were some of his fondest memories. My father would give anyone anything they needed and would do anything he could to help anyone without a second thought. He didn’t care if it would be at his expense, of time or money. He truly had a golden heart."

Lisa added: "There are many things I remember and respect about my father but most of all I would like him to be remembered as a man who loved deeply his wife and children, grandchildren, his parents, and his siblings." He also loved his cousins in England, she said, and cherished their visits.

Friends remembered the man who touched their lives.

"He did such great things for the downtown Riverhead BID and for downtown Riverhead," Diane Tucci said. "He leaves a legacy for sure. I didn't realize until I took the position of executive director for the BID, how much work he put into the events and activities downtown. Those were big shoes for me to fill, and as I tackled more projects downtown, I had even more respect for how hard he worked and how passionate he was."

Susan Tocci said she was very sad to hear of Pickersgill's passing. "He truly put in his best, to raise up Riverhead and Main Street. I recall when I was going to his salon, he and his family were so very caring — I had severe hair loss due to medical reasons. Mr. Ray would hold my hand as I cried and would make me come in weekly for treatments. He would never let me pay and would say, 'If this makes you feel better, it makes me feel better!'"

Pickersgill's longtime friend Anthony Coates spoke of how he wanted to remember him: "We were sitting around gabbing on a beautiful day and 'Mr. Ray' said, 'Let’s hose down the docks'. That was Ray Pickersgill: He didn’t sit still; he was always looking to help. To do something, not for himself, but, for someone."

He added: "Mr. Ray passed today, from COVID-19. For a bunch of years, Mr. Ray and I were inseparable. We had that rare radar you feel for another friend, when you complete each other’s sentences and laugh in the same places. Ray was dedicated to fun and friendship but he was all about helping his community. We served together when Ray was the president of the Business Improvement District board. We went to more meetings together than I can begin to think about," Coates said.

"But, through it all there was the simply joy of being together. 'The Misfits', 'Bible study', nights at Tweeds, road trips, boat trips, jokes we played on each other, lunches. His family was our family. Times with Ray were simple, easy, you couldn’t help feel the bear hug of his friendship. I would say he is gone now. But he isn’t. Ray is in the deeds he did for others, in the change he brought to his community, in the thousand small favors and niceties he quietly did for those in need. Some men are their own monument. Godspeed, my friend," he said.

For many years on Main Street, when residents saw Pickersgill, they likely saw him with his dear friend John Mantzopoulos, whose Greek restaurant was located next door to Pickersgill's salon. Even after both businesses shuttered, the pair remained friends, launching a new endeavor, a transportation business that centered on driving clients to the airport.

"If you ever needed a second father, Ray was like that second father," Mantzopoulos said.

Learning his friend had died was devastating. "This was so unexpected," he said. Mantzopoulos said he saw the news on social media Monday morning and couldn't believe what he was reading; he had just spoken to Pickersgill before he was hospitalized.

Reflecting on the years they spent together in downtown Riverhead, Mantzopoulos said the bond they forged was lifelong. "He wasn't just my neighbor or the BID president. It was a lot more personal."

The pair would do a lot to help one another, and for downtown Riverhead, he said. "Sometimes it would go unnoticed by many but we weren't doing it for us, or to get recognition, but to better the community. On a Saturday or Sunday morning we'd go down to the dock and pull out a hose to wash the walkway. Or we'd grab a paint brush to paint over the graffiti. We did a lot of things together."

He and Pickersgill shared years of memories. "You didn't have to ask Raymond to do something for you. If the sump pump went in the basement, he'd say, 'Let's go get the car.' His wife Margaret and daughter Lisa, too. All three of them are beautiful people."

Mantzopoulos paused, his voice filled with pain. "I feel so terrible. I'm 51 and I haven't cried for a long time. But I found myself crying this morning. Uncontrollable crying."

When he last spoke to his friend on April 7, Mantzopoulos said they were making plans for their new business: "The last time I talked to him, he said, 'When this is over, we'll be so busy with airport runs. Everyone will want to go away.'"

From the time he opened Athens Grill, which later became Mazi after a devastating fire in 2013, Pickersgill was a part of Mantzopoulos' memories.

"Ray was the first person I actually became friends with in downtown Riverhead," he said. From the first, in December, 2004, Mantzopolous said, "I had just barely turned on the lights. I was sitting at the counter and I had the schematics and I was figuring out what I was going to do, and in walks Ray. He introduced himself and said, 'I might be your neighbor. I'm looking to open a salon.'"

That was in 2004, Mantzopoulos said. He was just 36 then; Pickersgill was 56.

Over the years, the pair faced economic recession. Together, they weathered Super Storm Sandy, when downtown businesses flooded. At the time, Pickersgill told Patch that the floodwaters brought fish from the Peconic River pouring into his basement.

But no matter what, Pickersgill looked at the upside. Even after Sandy, he told Patch that he looked to the positive. He continued to push for Riverhead, for enhancements such as security systems for the downtown parking district.

Despite the uphill battle to revitalize Main Street, Pickersgill remained upbeat, Mantzopoulos said.

"Ray and I both sacrificed a lot to make it a go," he said. "The ability to buy a new car, to take vacations. Eventually, Ray had to downsize. Riverhead was never a Greenport, a Bay Shore, a Port Jefferson, where people had disposable income. We struggled. A week after Sandy, people didn't have gas. We were sitting there, burning heat, waiting for three or four people to come in and eat or get haircuts. But Ray and I always spoke and we came to the same agreement: 'Money lost is money lost. Health is more important. And he was always more optimistic. He'd say, 'Johnny, it's water under the bridge. Let's move forward.'"

Over the years, the pair shared many meals. "His favorite was gyro meat with potatoes," Mantzopoulos said.

After the fire at Mantzopoulos' restaurant, Pickersgill remained a steadfast support. At one fundraiser, when asked why he'd attended, Pickersgill told Patch: "To support the Greek guy," he smiled.

For Mantzopolous, the loss runs deep. "It's like I lost my father," he said. "Coronavirus took somebody very dear from me."

Others mourned the man who leaves a long legacy of giving back. "When I think of Ray, I will always think of a friendly, good-humored man who was as big a supporter of Riverhead and its community as anyone could be," said Cindy Clifford. "He believed in our town and its potential and happily jumped at the opportunity to help and promote Main Street businesses. My heart goes out to his family."

Nancy Kouris, owner of the Blue Duck Bakery, remembered Pickersgill. "He was a force for Riverhead as a business owner and president of the BID. He always supported us in Riverhead, and recruited me to be on the BID board. . .We will forever be grateful for all he did for the Riverhead business community and us. May he rest in peace."

Her father, Lisa said, had "an incredible golden heart of unconditional love and friendship" and will forever be remembered for "his kindness, positive outlook and hard work ethic. There was never a drop of ulterior motive — only what was good for the town or the project or the person or business he was helping. They don’t make many like him. He was honorable— and had so much integrity."

Those who wish to donate in his memory are asked to contribute to the men and women at Stony Brook University Hospital, where Pickersgill died, his daughter said. "Please donate to the staff who are on the front lines. That would be my father's wish," she said.

A memorial service will follow after the coronavirus crisis has passed, his family said.