American Turf Monthly editor H. Rowe dies

For the past 30 years, the onetime editor of the American Turf Monthly, Howard A. Rowe, lived in Hempstead, but his heart, mind and soul were at home at the racetracks in Elmont and Jamaica, where for 80 years he watched, analyzed and championed the pulse of a sport showcasing world-class thoroughbreds.

Friends and family said the Queens native took to the culture of horse racing as a young boy, becoming fascinated by the characters and electric atmosphere that merged a stallion's raw power and beauty with a jockey's skill.

"Racing was a sociable spectacle for Howard," said Joseph Conte of Uniondale, who began editing with Rowe at the magazine in the 1960s. "He liked interacting with people, the glad-handing and storytelling."

Rowe, who came to know most if not all of the biggest names in the sport, fell ill about 18 months ago and moved into the A. Holly Patterson Nursing Home in Uniondale. He died of natural causes at Nassau University Medical Center on Wednesday night. He was 97.

Family and friends recalled Rowe as a self-educated journalist with an encyclopedic knowledge of racing, a man with the most serious of work ethics who could have been a standup comic. He was an old-fashioned writer who retained precise recall of horse racing's finest eras, they said.

"He was a brilliant man who was in his 90s and who could remember things from the '40s like it was yesterday," said Joe Girardi, editor of American Turf Monthly. "He was a funny and smart man. He led a tremendous life."

Lorraine Queeney of Huntsville, Ala., Rowe's only child, said her father would not live in a place that didn't host a racetrack like Aqueduct or Belmont.

"I started picking up racetrack tickets when I was 3 years old," she said. "I went to the track with him. We had a lot of fun."

She recalled Rowe as a natty dresser who was never without a pair of binoculars slung over his left shoulder. He always wore a sport coat, a tie and a fedora.

Gerd Conte, a friend and Joseph Conte's wife, said Rowe hosted gatherings where friends would pepper him with trivia questions about any topic. Rowe never ceased to dazzle, she said.

"He loved it when we had questions," Conte said. "We used to go there in the evening where he lived in Hempstead and we had questions about things like who was the president in 18-so-and-so, or we'd ask the names of kings and stuff like that," she said.

Born in New York, Rowe graduated from high school and never attended college, but was an avid reader and taught himself much of what he knew.

Rowe was a close friend of H. Allen Jerkens, a trainer who is in the National Thoroughbred Racing Hall of Fame. The two men dined weekly at an Italian restaurant in Elmont.

Many years ago, with help from Jerkens' wife, Elizabeth, Rowe created a circulating library for backstretch employees.

Rowe's body will be cremated and no funeral service is planned.

Donations may be made in Rowe's honor to the Belmont Park Backstretch Assistance Fund at the New York Racing Association.