When he was a powerful New York State Assemblyman in the 1970s, Perry B. Duryea Jr. was called a man in a hurry. So much so, that he used to pilot his own plan to Albany, from Montauk Airport, just about every week.
Duryea, who served as Speaker of the Assembly and was the Republican nominee for governor in 1978, was one of a number of public figures and entertainment stars to use the small privately owned airport that sits on East Lake Drive between Lake Montauk and Block Island Sound. Duryea died in 2004 in a vehicle crash.
