Henry W. "Skip" de Lagarde Jr., 68, of Coram, N.Y., died on Sunday, March 25, at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City due to complications from his struggle with myleofibrosis (a disorder of the bone marrow).
Henry was born on July 19, 1943, in Washington, D.C., to the late Henry Sr. and Elizabeth de Lagarde. He then moved to St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands in 1951 which he called home. He married Violet Irwin in 1975, and they lived together in and around New York before settling in Long Island in the 1980s.
He graduated from Sts. Peter & Paul High School on St. Thomas and attended college at Howard University in Washington, D.C. He began his illustrious career at NBC as a senior broadcast engineer in New York City. Throughout his career, Henry held a number of positions in the U.S. Virgin Islands government including tourism managing director, director of media relations, chief of staff to Lt. Gov. Derek M. Hodge and most recently director of tourism and general manager-North America. Henry also excelled and was highly regarded in the public relations and advertising industry for 20 years in New York City as vice president of N.W. Ayer and then as a vice president at Hill and Knowlton. He also received a number of awards throughout his career including a George Foster Peabody Award, the PRSA Silver Anvil and a number of tourism awards. He belonged to a number of organizations including the American Society of Travel Agents, Caribbean Tourism Organization and Caribbean Hotel Association, and he was a board member of Skål International.
Skip had a booming voice that demanded attention. He did a number of radio, film and television voice-over projects including the announcement that welcomes travelers from around the world to the U.S. Virgin Islands at airports on St. Croix and St. Thomas.
For the last few years, Skip was part of the Aspirant Discernment Group for the Episcopal Diocese.
Henry loved planes and obtained his private pilot’s license in the late 1990s and was a member of the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association.
Henry is survived by his wife, Violet; and three children: son, Adrian, daughter in-law; Sophiea, and two grandchildren: Christopher and Maxwell; son Jonathan and partner Claire; and daughter, Jacquelynne and partner, Clarence; his mother, Elizabeth; three siblings, brothers: Edouard and family; Ernest “Poogie” and family; and sister Jo-Ann and family.
A memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. on Friday, March 30, in Garden City at Cathedral of the Incarnation – 50 Cathedral Avenue, Garden City, N.Y. 11530
In lieu of flowers, the family is requesting that donations be made to Episcopal Charities of Long Island
