Gardner Baldwin of Vineyard Haven died suddenly from a heart attack on Wednesday, Sept. 7 at the Martha’s Vineyard Hospital. His graveside service was held on Tuesday, Sept. 13 in the Oak Grove Cemetery, State Road, Vineyard Haven.

Gardner was born March 22, 1951 in Montclair, N.J His childhood was spent in New York, Boston and Florida. As a child he summered on Martha’s Vineyard, taking special pleasure in the time spent with “Nanny,” his grandmother, Florence Macy. Gardner attended college in Indiana and Wisconsin but felt he “already knew all they had to teach” and left before graduating to sample from the buffet table of life.

Gardner pursued a career as an actor and screenwriter. He worked on several movies and the TV series VR Troopers. Like many in the entertainment industry he also worked many odd jobs, and he had success as an entrepreneur in the nightclub industry in Florida. At least one of his screenplays was made into a film many years after he originally wrote it.

Gardner returned to the Vineyard as a year-round resident in 1999. He quickly received a job offer from Bunch of Grapes Bookstore where he was a loyal and valued employee until just days before his untimely death. He was essential in the creation of the new store after the July Fourth fire of 2008. Although Gardner primarily worked behind the scenes at Bunch of Grapes, he loved to stand in front of the store, smoking his ubiquitous cigarette and watching the flow of the seasons on Main street. It was also at Bunch of Grapes that Gardner met Alaina Darr, his life partner to the time of his death.

Gardner was a lifelong student of baseball, politics, philosophy and history. He subscribed to the Bill James Baseball Abstract when it began in 1977, and read every edition since then with enthusiasm and delight. He was a self-described Marxist and radical whose ideas were “just to the right of Fidel Castro.” He was convinced that reading and learning are active pursuits and immersed himself in both with zeal. His conversation and insights will be missed by his many friends.

Gardner is survived by his mother, Betty Gardner of Vineyard Haven, father Donald Baldwin of Alexandria, Va., and his longtime loving partner, Alaina Darr of Vineyard Haven. Also his uncle Procter Smith and wife, Leigh, of Vineyard Haven; cousins, Alison Smith Driscoll and J.P. Hitesman of Delaware; Procter Smith of Connecticut; Pamela Brock of Massachusetts; and stepfather Frank Fuchs and wife, Muriel, of Florida. He will be sorely missed by all of us who knew him.