Guy Ladd Frost, 85, architect and motor sports enthusiast, dead

Guy Ladd Frost, a Roslyn and East Hampton architect and preservationist who had fought on behalf of the Bridgehampton Race Circuit auto track, died March 14 at age 85.

He died at the Sands Point Center for Health and Rehabilitation in Port Washington, said his daughter, Jessica Frost. Diagnosed with Lewy body dementia in 2012, he was moved to the facility last year after suffering a stroke.

An architect with a degree from the Rhode Island School of Design, Frost designed many of Long Island's split-level houses and was dedicated to historical and architectural preservation. A motor sports enthusiast, he had a particular interest in "The Bridge," as the track, built in 1957, was known. It hosted such racing stars as Mario Andretti, A.J. Foyt, Richard Petty and Al Unser until a 1980s noise ordinance made it suitable only for amateur racing, and it was demolished in 1999 for a golf course.

Frost, a member of the Sports Car Club of America and a founder of the Bridgehampton Racing Heritage Group, himself competed in amateur races, in cars including a Fiat X1/9 and a vintage open-wheel Formula racer. From 2004 to 2010, he organized celebrations for the Vanderbilt Cup Races in Garden City and Roslyn Harbor.

A member of the Town of North Hempstead's Historic Landmarks Preservation Commission, Frost worked to preserve structures in that town and in Roslyn, where his architectural drawings and papers were donated to the village's Bryant Library.

Guy Frost was born Jan. 17, 1934, in Brooklyn, to Rose and Stanley Frost.

From 1954 to 1958, he served as an aircraft controller in the U.S. Air Force in Japan and later Montauk. He met his future wife, Donna Dussault, in college, and they married on Memorial Day in 1959.

The couple purchased a home in Roslyn in 1965. There he became acquainted with oral surgeon and Navy captain Dr. Roger Gerry, a noted preservationist, with whom he spent a quarter-century helping to restore structures including the Ellen E. Ward Clock Tower. The Frosts moved to East Hampton in 1973 and to Port Washington in 2015.

As a father, "He was incredibly supportive," said Jessica Frost, 48, associate curator of the permanent collection of Guild Hall in East Hampton. "He had a great sense of humor and could be quite silly at times."

In addition to Jessica, he is survived by his wife; a second daughter, Erica French; a son, Christopher; and five grandchildren. A memorial is scheduled for Saturday, April 20, from 12 to 2 p.m. at The Bryant Library in Roslyn.