Thomas L. (TL) Flynn Jr. died Jan. 9 after a brief illness. He was 88. He and Carolyn, his wife of 20 years, had recently moved to Winston Salem, N.C.

TL was born in New Jersey in 1933 and moved with his family to Pohogonot Farm in 1939. He was part of the group of boys who helped to rescue the Navy flight crew of a torpedo bomber that crashed in the ocean off South Beach in January 1945. A memorial plaque hangs at the Martha’s Vineyard Airport.

He left the Island to attend prep school at Portsmouth Priory and then Brown University, where he studied business. From college, TL married Jane Peters Brown. He worked in the investment field in New York city and then in real estate for Pilgrim Management of Boston, where he brokered many high visibility deals including the historic Sherry-Biltmore Hotel.

In the 1970s, he married Elizabeth Dana (Bess) Smith and moved back to the Vineyard to assume management of Anna B. Flynn Real Estate, the firm started by his mother Anna B. He also continued the conservation work that his father, Thomas L. Flynn Sr., began in the 1950s. He became president of the Marine Research Foundation, a nonprofit organization focused on sustainable shellfish farming on the Island.

TL enjoyed many interests on the Vineyard, including hunting, fishing, choir singing, antique vehicle restoration and local politics. He was a member of the Edgartown Yacht Club for many years, a lifetime member of the Edgartown Reading Room and sang with the St Andrew’s Episcopal Church choir.

He will be remembered by many for his generous heart, avid storytelling and sharp sense of humor.

TL is survived by his wife Carolyn; his brother Harry F. Flynn of West Toluca Lake, Calif.; two sons Thomas L. (Skip) Flynn 3rd of Philadelphia and Christopher P. Flynn of Bradenton, Fla.; his daughter Cynthia F. Hollister of Littleton, Colo.; and six grandchildren, Tyler Gattoni, Brittany Flynn, Thomas L. (Chase) Flynn, Trinity Flynn, Logan Flynn and Declan Flynn.

Services will be private.