Joel E. Finn

1938 - 2017

Joel E. Finn of Bluffton, South Carolina, award-winning author, race-car driver, and computer industry pioneer, died on January 28, 2017 in Charleston, South Carolina. 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, New York, and graduated from Syracuse University. He served in the US 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. He acquired his first car when he was ten 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. Joel's 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, Nevada, 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 US and Europe. He was known for his success in Cooper, Chevron and Lotus cars and for his meticulous restoration of legendary Mercedes and Maserati race cars. In recent years, he toured scenic America in early Brass Era cars, including Simplexes and FIATs. Joel'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, Connecticut, restoring the ridges and vistas of Moosehorn Valley, now protected through conservation easements. He spent his final years at his home in Palmetto Bluff, South Carolina. He is survived by his devoted wife Ann (Ann Y. Smith); two daughters, Heather Marney, of Danville Pennsylvania, 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 Joel's life will be held in Palmetto Bluff on Sunday, May 21, 2017. Memorial contributions may be made in his honor to the "Dr. Jeremy Schmahmann Research Fund" at Massachusetts General Hospital, 125 Nashua Street, Boston, MA 02114, to the Weantinoge Heritage Land Trust, P.O. Box 821, 06757 Kent, CT, or to The Revs Institute at the Collier Museum, 2500 S. Horseshoe Drive, Naples, FL 34104. A memorial message may be sent to the family online at www.jhenrystuhr.com.