[citation needed] He served as a lieutenant in the United States Navy in the South West Pacific theatre during World War II.
[1] Gardiner worked on Wall Street, for the Empire Trust Company and owned a 42-acre shopping center in Islip, New York.
[2] Due to their disputes, Gardiner refused to contribute to the taxes and other costs of maintaining the property–which, at that time, were more than $1 million per year.
In 1971, Representative Otis Pike proposed a bill to expropriate Gardiners Island, to turn it into a Federal National Monument.
Today, Sagtikos Manor stands as a small museum rich in historical value to the American Revolution and its era onward.
[4] In 1961, Gardiner married Eunice Bailey Oakes (1928–2011), a former British model, at St. Thomas Church on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan.
[10][11][12] The long running dispute between Gardiner and his niece formed part of the background to Chrystle Fiedler's 2015 mystery novel Garden of Death.