Family and friends gathered in Manhattan on Sunday, September 6, 2026, for the funeral of Spencer M. Korwin, a former Team USA triathlete and wellness entrepreneur who drowned during a morning swim on Wednesday, September 2, while on a family vacation on Shelter Island, New York. He was 38.
Korwin, a father of two young daughters, entered the water about 8 a.m. that Wednesday from the dock at the hotel where he and his relatives were lodging, according to Shelter Island Police Det. Sgt. Jack Thilberg. Divers found him underwater near that same dock about seven hours later.
Several outlets have identified the hotel as the Pridwin Hotel, though Shelter Island police have not confirmed the name themselves.
How the Search Unfolded
When Korwin did not come back from the water, his wife notified hotel staff, who in turn called for emergency help. Officers from Shelter Island Town Police, firefighters from the Shelter Island Fire Department and crews from Shelter Island Town Emergency Medical Services (EMS) responded shortly after noon to a report of a missing swimmer, police said.
The search covered the Crescent Beach-North Channel area of Shelter Island Sound and the surrounding waterways, drawing in police helicopters and multiple marine units. Shelter Island EMS sent two ambulances and several volunteers to assist, alongside the marine and air crews.
Divers located Korwin about 3 p.m., and authorities concluded that drowning had killed him. According to Thilberg, detectives working alongside the Suffolk County Medical Examiner’s Office regard the death as accidental and have found no indication of criminality. The investigation remains open, police said, and the official cause and manner of death will be set by the medical examiner.
Conditions on the Water That Day
John Kirincic, a master mariner for the Southold Town Police Department’s Marine One, described the weather that day to the Shelter Island Reporter. “There was no fog or anything bad,” he said. Even so, Kirincic noted, the current in that stretch of water is frequently strong because of the narrow passage the tide runs through.
A Fixture on the East End Circuit
Korwin graduated from Syracuse University in 2010. He qualified for Team USA Triathlon in 2012 and raced at the World Championships in Auckland, New Zealand. That same year he also became a Gatorade-sponsored athlete.
Closer to home, he was a familiar figure in Long Island’s endurance-sports scene, collecting podium finishes at races across the East End. On his LinkedIn profile, he noted that he had won both the Montauk Point Lighthouse Triathlon and the Mighty Montauk Sprint Triathlon.
Korwin founded Korwin Health & Wellness in 2021, advising competitive athletes as well as ordinary clients on rest, nutrition and balancing the demands of daily life, all while putting in his own training hours for Ironman and Ironman 70.3 events. He described his work as helping people “achieve goals that once seemed out of reach.”
He was also the grandson of Irving Korwin, a World War II veteran and the founder of Wideband Coin Jewelry, who died in 2020 in Arizona.
Funeral Service
Korwin’s funeral service was held at 1:30 p.m. on Sunday, September 6, at Temple Israel in Manhattan. He was buried afterward at Beth Moses Jewish Cemetery in West Babylon.
Korwin is survived by his wife, Carly Korwin, and their two daughters, Sadie, four, and Colette, one. He was a regular presence in the Hamptons, where he and his wife were married on the beach in Bridgehampton.
Shelter Island, a small island town between the North and South forks of eastern Long Island, draws heavy summer traffic from vacationing families, and its waters are patrolled by town police and volunteer emergency crews. The response to the missing-swimmer call on September 2 pulled in departments from across the area before divers ended the search that afternoon.
As of Sunday, September 6, police described the drowning as accidental and said the investigation was continuing, with the Suffolk County Medical Examiner’s Office still to issue its findings on the official cause and manner of death.
