Sondra Thompson

Sondra Thompson died on Sunday, May 16, 2021, in Westhampton, N.Y. She was 87 years old.

Born on Oct. 18, 1933, in Brooklyn, she was the daughter of Robert and Roslyn Benstock. Her father managed hotels in midtown Manhattan, and she attended high school in Washington Heights, where she met her future husband, Irwin Thompson. Married at 19, on Nov. 9, 1952, she and her husband began their life together in Riverdale, in the Bronx, where their son, Bruce, was born in 1955 and their daughter, Lori, in 1958.

In 1960, they moved to the East End of Long Island, where the family business, Thompsons’ Supermarket, became the first employer for generations of high school students in Hampton Bays. They established their home in Northampton, and their children attended schools in Riverhead. Sondra also worked part-time as a secretary in a law office during these years.

During the 1980s, Irwin and Sondra opened a smaller store in Southold, where Sondra managed the jewelry and antiques departments, which gave her an opportunity to express her sense of style and her love of beautiful things.

When her beloved husband died in 1997, she began to spend more time in Broward County, Fla., where they had established a second home and intended to retire. Wherever she lived, she enjoyed her life and leisure activities — from mahjong and bridge to dancing and tennis — amid a large and lively circle of friends. She spent her final years at the beautiful Villa retirement and assisted living community in Westhampton, Long Island.

Donations in her memory may be made to Temple Israel in Riverhead, where she was a member for 60 years, or to East End Hospice. 

Funeral arrangements were entrusted to Tuthill-Mangano Funeral Home in Riverhead.

This is a paid notice.