The National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in Saratoga Springs says its former President, John von Stade, died Thursday after a long illness.
He was 83. Stade served as president from 1989 to 2005, the longest in museum history. Stade and his family have deep ties to thoroughbred racing in New York – his father was a founder of the National Museum of Racing in 1950 and the final president of the Saratoga Association, which owned and operated Saratoga Race Course before its assimilation into what is now the New York Racing Association.
