Everett Frazar Warner Sr. of Needham and Edgartown died of heart failure on Dec. 7 at North Hill in Needham. He was 87.

He is remembered as a scholar and a gentleman and for his sweet, charming disposition, his ironclad integrity and his devotion to family.

Mr. Warner was born in Short Hills, N.J., the youngest of four sons of Richard F. and Abby Frazar Warner. His three brothers and his wife of 37 years, Elizabeth (Libby) Lenssen Warner, all predeceased him by nearly 20 years, despite his having battled multiple sclerosis since his mid-thirties.

He was graduated from Lehigh University in 1942 as a member of the Sigma Phi Fraternity, later serving in the U.S. Army in World War II as a second lieutenant. It was then that he met Libby, although it was later determined that they had been wheeled together as infants in baby carriages on Morse street in Edgartown. They were married in January 1951 at St. Paul’s Chapel in Englewood, N.J.

Mr. Warner ran the family import-export business, Frazar & Co., which was founded by an ancestor in 1831. He was one of a select group of American businessmen to be chosen by General MacArthur to return to Tokyo after the war in order to reopen the business and promote international trade there.

After his marriage to Libby, they lived in Tokyo until 1953, returning again in 1963 for a year with their three children. When the effects of his MS became too debilitating, he was forced to leave Frazar & Co. and return with his family to the States.

He became a real estate broker in Greenwich, Conn., for a number of years before moving to Francestown, N.H., where they lived until 1981 when he and Libby retired to Albuquerque, N.M. Following Libby’s death in 1988, he continued to live in New Mexico for nine years. In 1997, he moved to North Hill in Needham where he met the second love of his life, Gloria (Glo) McCreery, who is also a resident of North Hill.

Although Mr. Warner grew up summering in Cataumet on the Cape with his family, after marrying Libby, his summer residency on the Vineyard spanned more than five decades. They were members of the Edgartown Yacht Club for many years, and it was on the Vineyard that he joined the Masons in the late 1970s.

His happiest moments were spent on Planting Field Point with his family: swimming, sailing, mucking around in Eel Pond, and puttering with household chores around the property. His love for the Vineyard was synonymous with his love for Libby and their family. Largely due to his efforts to maintain the property, the legacy of Planting Field Point will carry on from Libby’s parents, G. Arthur and Ethel Cleveland Lenssen, to his eight grandchildren – the fourth generation of Lenssen descendants.

He will be remembered for his gentle manner, the twinkle in his eyes and his quiet, self-effacing sense of humor.

Survivors include his children, Everett F. Warner Jr. of Blacksburg, Va., Elizabeth (Beta) W. Weedon of Wellesley and Ahni Cleveland Warner of Amherst, N.H.; and eight devoted grandchildren.

A small service will be held in Wellesley on Saturday, Dec. 29; however, a memorial service is planned in Edgartown for sometime next July.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks that memorial contributions be made to either the Multiple Sclerosis Society at NationalMSSociety.org or Boston MedFlight at BostonMedFlight.org.