Services will be held at 2 p.m. Dec. 19 in St. Thomas Episcopal Church, Owings Mill, Md., for John von Stade, who spent 50 years as co-chair of the Far Hills, N.J., Race Meeting.
Mr. von Stade, who died Nov. 28 after a long illness, presided over the Far Hills meet as it went from an event that attracted a few thousand spectators to the country’s richest day of steeplechasing, with more than 30,000 attending.
The ultimate volunteer, he did everything from bedding stalls in the stables to putting up snow fencing at first, and then managing hundreds of volunteers and setting the fixture’s course as it grew.
A resident of Peapack and Bernardsville until moving to Maryland six years ago, he was a member of a prominent racing family. His father, F. Skiddy von Stade was a founder of the National Museum of Racing in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., which Mr. von Stade served as president from 1989-2005–longer than anyone else has held that position.
Guy Torsilieri spent 35 years helming the Far Hills Races with Mr. von Stade, who retired from the co-chairmanship in 2014.
“He was an art lover, a historian. He was like an old school guy, but he managed to change with the times. He had an incredible way about him, so gentle and focused. He knew which way things needed to go and should go,” Guy said.
Mr. von Stade developed his interest in music and art while being educated at St. Paul’s School in Concord, N.H., and then Harvard University. A bass baritone, he attended the Aspen School of Music. He served in the Army Reserves and worked in banking before opening the Essex Gallery of Sport in Far Hills, just down the street from the race meeting.
Former Far Hills Meeting co-chairman John von Stade, left, and race meeting co-chair Guy Torsilierico presented a trophy in 2010 to race horse owner Morten Buskop. (Photo © 2010 by Nancy Jaffer)
Despite coming from a family that was deeply involved in thoroughbred racing, Mr. von Stade only dabbled in it briefly on a personal basis.
He good-naturedly described his Ivy Creek Stables as “a fantastic disaster.”
“He got into it and quickly got out of it,” Guy related.
Mr. von Stade dedicated his life to philanthropic venues and giving back.
Guy called him the “fabric and the glue” that held things together between the races and the foundation that donates to Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in Somerville. It is the home of the Steeplechase Cancer Center and the von Stade lobby, built on $18 million from the races.
Mr. von Stade will be formally remembered on race day next year.
“We will clearly honor him appropriately,” Guy said.
Mr. von Stade is survived by his wife, Phyllis; his son, John von Stade Jr., and his wife, Ann, as well as Phyllis’ daughters and son-in-law, Anna DuVal, Olivia Duval, and Joseph Cutrone; grandchildren Lily, Talbot, and Charlie von Stade, and Orlando, Sophia, and Nico Cutrone. Also among the survivors are Mr. von Stade’s niece, famed opera singer Frederica von Stade.
Mr. von Stade’s first wife, Sandra, died in 2000.