Obituary: Joel E. Finn

Joel E. Finn of Bluffton, S.C., award-winning author, racecar driver, and computer industry pioneer, died on Jan. 28, 2017 in Charleston, SC. He was 78.

He was a loyal and generous friend, admired for his engaging stories, and a loving and supportive husband, father and grandfather.

The son of Barney and Alice (Abrams) Finn, Joel was raised in Syracuse, NY, and graduated from Syracuse University. He served in the U.S. Army as a Ranger and paratrooper before beginning his career at IBM. He was subsequently chairman of several start-up companies in the computer industry.

Finn acquired his first car when he was 10 years old and became one of the country’s foremost historians of motor racing. He was the author of a dozen highly-regarded books on Ferraris and Maseratis as well as American road racing in the first half of the 20th century. His book on mid-century racing in Cuba won the prestigious Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot Award for Outstanding Book of 2010 from the Society of Automotive Historians. He served as the president of the Harrah Auto Collection in Reno, Nev., now the National Automobile Museum, during its transformation from a private collection to a public museum.

An active competitor, Joel raced for 55 consecutive years at Watkins Glen and on the storied tracks across the U.S. and Europe. He was known for his success in Cooper, Chevron and Lotus cars and for his meticulous restoration of legendary Mercedes and Maserati racecars. In recent years, he toured scenic America in early Brass Era cars, including Simplexes and FIATs.

Finn’s collection of historic automotive archives, photos, pennants, posters, early periodicals, books and memorabilia was legendary for its scope and quality. The Joel Finn Collection, pursued with passion and intelligence over 50 years, will be preserved in The Revs Institute at the Collier Museum in Naples, Florida.

He lived three happy decades at the home he designed and built in Roxbury, Conn., restoring the ridges and vistas of Moosehorn Valley, now protected through conservation easements. He spent his final years at his home in Palmetto Bluff, S.C.

He is survived by his devoted wife Ann (Ann Y. Smith), two daughters Heather Marney, of Danville, Pa., and Steffanie Finn of New York City, as well as two granddaughters Erica and Jaclyn Marney. He is also survived by two sisters, Linda Bergeron and Donna Price, both of Florida. He was predeceased by his oldest daughter Melanie Finn Winchester.

A celebration of his life will be held in Palmetto Bluff Sunday, May 21.

Memorial contributions may be made in his honor to “Dr. Jeremy Schmahmann’s Research Fund” at Mass General Hospital in Boston, to the Weantinoge Heritage Land Trust headquartered in Kent, Conn., or to The Revs Institute at the Collier Museum in Naples, Fla.