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| Joe Hirsch Photo: File Photo |
Joe Hirsch, considered the dean of American turf writers, died early Jan. 9 at St. Luke's Hospital in New York City, according to the Daily Racing Form, where he was a long-time columnist. Hirsch was 80.
The Form reported Hirsch, who fell and broke a hip at his midtown Manhattan apartment last spring, had been living in a long-term care facility before being transferred to St. Luke's earlier in the week. He had suffered for many years from Parkinson's disease. Funeral arrangements were not immediately available.
A funeral service will be held Jan. 11 at 10 a.m. at Plaza Jewish Community Chapel, 630 Amsterdam Ave. at 91st Street in Manhattan. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in honor of Joe Hirsch to Columbia University Center, Parkinson's Disease research, 630 West 168th St.; att: Dr. Thomas Q. Morris.
A graduate of New York University, Hirsch began his writing career with the New York Times, leaving that publication after a short period to join The Morning Telegraph, then a companion paper of the Form. He joined the Form in 1954, and in 1974 was named the paper’s executive columnist, a title he kept until his retirement in November 2003 at age 74.
“As his countless friends and colleagues in racing will attest, Joe’s contributions to the sport he genuinely loved go far beyond the columns he began writing in 1954,” DRF chairman and publisher Steven Crist said at the time of Hirsch’s retirement. “He has been a teacher and mentor to generations of writers, and a tireless advocate for racing on an international scale. His absence from these pages will be devastating, but we all look forward to years of his continuing counsel and friendshio.”
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