* Alexandra Gardiner Creel; Co-Owner of Gardiners Island

Alexandra Gardiner Creel, 80, who with her brother held what is believed to be America’s largest privately owned island. In 1955, Mrs. Creel and her brother, Robert Gardiner, 79, inherited Gardiners Island in Long Island Sound, which had been in the family since 1639. In recent years, family members squabbled over use of the seven-mile-long island, and a judge had to intervene to divide maintenance costs and set up a schedule for visiting. Robert Gardiner has asked the state to buy the island and turn it into a wildlife preserve. But Mrs. Creel’s daughter, who inherits her rights to the property, said she wants to keep it as a private estate. On Monday in Glen Cove, N.Y., of undisclosed causes.