Donald J. Currie passed away on May 26 surrounded by his loving family. He was born on December 28, 1933 in Greenport, New York to Evelyn Moore Parks and Doctor Donald F. Currie of Shelter Island, New York. Dr. Currie served as Shelter Island’s only physician, general practitioner and surgeon for over a quarter of a century from 1930 until his death in 1964. He also practiced at Eastern Long Island Hospital as an internist and surgeon serving the Eastern half of Long Island and was instrumental in outfitting and training the island’s first ambulance company. Shelter Island celebrated his 25 years of devoted service in 1956 with Dr. Currie Day commemorating his dedicated service to the community.
Donald J. Currie was raised on the island and graduated from Shelter Island High School in 1950 followed by a post-graduate year at Hackley School. Don graduated from Bucknell University in 1955 with a Bachelor of Arts in History and was a catcher on the University’s Varsity Baseball Team. He was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the United States Army where he served in the Air Defense Artillery, the Army’s Judge Advocate General’s Corps and the National Guard. In 1959, he graduated Cum Laude with a Juris Doctor from Washington and Lee University School of Law, where he was the Associate Editor of the University’s Law Review.
After marrying his first wife Mary Elizabeth Straughn of North Carolina in 1959, the couple started a family, living and working in Manhattan and later in Manhasset and Shelter Island, New York. In a legal career that spanned almost half a century, he joined the New York firm of Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft in 1959 and a few years later was recruited by the Park Avenue firm of Kaye, Scholer, Ferman, Hayes, and Handler where he would serve for over four decades as a senior partner in the firm’s trusts and estates practice. In 1997, he established Kaye Scholer’s first Florida-based office in West Palm Beach. He was a member of the Bar in New York State, Florida and the Commonwealth of Virginia, and was admitted to practice in the Southern and Eastern District Federal Courts. He was regarded as an authority on Trusts and Estate planning and served on numerous Boards of Directors throughout his career.
With the marriage to his second wife Bonny Currie in 1973, he acquired a second family. The couple resided in Manhasset, New York until Bonny’s passing in 2016, at which time he moved to Florida to be near his eldest son Don, his wife Michelle, and their family.
Donald J. Currie, “Pop Pop” was a loving and dedicated father, grandfather and great grandfather. He is survived by his son Donald S. Currie and wife Michelle of Lake Mary Florida, son Scott Currie of Manhattan and Southampton, New York, daughter Heather Currie Wegge of St. Louis, Missouri and his stepchildren Jamie, Lori and Stacey Levere. He also leaves behind his grandchildren, Lauren Penberthy and husband Jon, Katherine and Sarah Currie, and Miranda Wegge, his great grand-daughter Avery Penberthy and step grandchildren Jenna and Jake Levere.
Family and friends are invited to a graveside burial service on Wednesday, June 1, 2022, 10am at Highland Memory Gardens, 3329 East Semoran Blvd., Apopka, Florida, 32703. Once you enter the cemetery grounds, please follow the blue arrows to the location. Services will also be livestreamed and recorded for those who cannot attend.