Robert A. York

Robert A. York passed away peacefully on April 24, 2024 at his home in Greenfield, MA, surrounded by his wife and children.  He was 77 years old.  Bob had been battling 5 unrelated cancers since 2008.  He was born on February 20, 1947 to the late Ray and Alyce York of 5 Iron Works Road, Concord, NH.

Bob graduated from Bishop Brady High School in 1966 and received his B. A. in English from Belknap College in 1970.  He married the former MaryAnn Hyde on June 7, 1975 at the Carmelite Monastery in Concord.  Bob and MaryAnn had two sons, Brendan R. York {wife Amy) of Westford, MA, and Andrew W. York .  They have 3 granddaughters, Ella M, 18, Maddie D. 17, and Sarah R. 15, all of Westford.

Beside his parents, he was predeceased by two brothers, Matthew in 1941 and Thomas in 1952; his Aunt Kathryn Daley and Uncle Bob Gorham; cousins Richard and John Mahon as well as his beloved grandparents Concord Fire Capt. Matthew Gorham ad his wife Alice. 

Beside his wife and children, Bob is survived by his cousins, Virginia Daley Mahon,  Barbara Gorham Lenox, and Cathy, Eileen and Martin Mahon.

In 1970 Bob began a 42  year career with Newspapers of New England,  first as a sports writer for the Concord Monitor. As a new college grad, he often sought out advice from the late Ruel Colby,  a seasoned and and well-respected NH sports writer at the Monitor.  Bob loved covering local and college sports.  He especially enjoyed covering the Concord Eastern Olympics, a semi-pro hockey team.   Bob left Concord for Florida and became a part-time writer for the Sarasota Herald Tribune.  He would later move on to a fulltime job at the Bradenton Herald.  He covered the Pittburgh Pirates and one of his first assignments was to write  a story about the Roberto Clemente’s tragic death in a plane crash.  He enjoyed his baseball work, but missed covering  New England hockey, both college and professional, so when the late George Wilson of the Concord Monitor called and asked him if he would be interested in a  sports editors job at the Recorder,  he jumped at the opportunity to return to New England.  He served as sports editor for 11 years and would earn eight N. E. Associated Press Awards for Sport Page Presentation  before moving over to the news desk  as a copy editor.  Sports writing was always his greatest love and he always said he worked with some the most dedicated and talented coaches and athletes in Franklin County, such as the late Bill Budness,  the late Patsy and Ralph Collins, the late Joe Spadafora, of Mahar Regional, the late Vi Goodnow of Frontier,  Jim Smith and Jim Lindsey from Deerfield Academy, Doug Welenc,  Tom Suchanek,  Mike Duprey, Doug Weiss and many others.

Bob had been a contributing writer to the Deerfield Acadamy Alumni magazine for many years. He so enjoyed covering Deerfield athletes, past and present and loved researching stories he thought would be of interest to alumni.  He also wrote for their website.  He would continue writing for Deerfield until 2020.  He wrote stories for several other prep schools as well, including Northfield Mount Herman and Milton Academy.   Bob was  a writer for the high school hockey paper, Hockey Night in Boston,  for several years covering elite hockey players from Western Mass.

Bob was a writer for the New England Preparatory School Athletic Council (NEPSAC} for the last eight years.  He used his deep knowledge of athletics to write over 50 articles for NEPSAC, which touched on student accomplishments, coaching awards, and notable alumni.  Over the years, Bob interviewed Olympians, professional athletes, sports broadcasters, hall of fame athletes, national championship winning coaches and even General Mark A. Milley, 20th Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Bob loved spending time with his family at their summer home on Lake Winnisquam in NH.  He would often sit out on the dock at dusk watching the beautiful pink sunset and say he hoped heaven looked just like this.

Bob enjoyed golf, reading and any activities with his children and grandchildren. 

Bob’s most meaningful assignment lies ahead of him.  Because of his unique and challenging  medical history, he applied to be part of the Anatomical Gift Program at the Geisel School of Medicine Dartmouth College,  for medical research.  His hope was that he might help advance new treatments for cancer patients in some small way. 

Bob had so much gratitude for the doctors and the medical teams that took care of him over the years.  His family wishes to thank Dr. Laurence Klein, Gage Azeez and Meghan Wheeler in Greenfield, Dr. Rocco Addante, Dr. Joseph Paydarfar, Dr. Alan Hartford, Dr. Garrett Wasp, and Catherine Anton at Dartmouth and the countless nurses, medical students and medical professionals.

There are no calling hours.

A Funeral Mass will be held Saturday, May 11th, 10:30 a.m., Blessed Sacrament Church, 223 Federal Street, Greenfield, MA. 

Arrangements are under the direction of the Kostanski Funeral Home.  For condolences, please visit www.kostanskifuneralhome.com.

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