Horse Racing FLA’s editor and part-owner Jim Freer passed away on Friday, March 17th in Fort Lauderdale, Florida of complications from Parkinson’s Disease.
He was predeceased by his parents, Francis Hervey Freer and Catherine Frances Freer (Norris).
He was born on August 9, 1948 in Troy, New York.
He grew up in upstate New York, Watervliet, Guilderland, Hamburg and Liverpool. He graduated from Hamburg High School.
He received a bachelor’s degree in history from Holy Cross and a master’s degree in journalism from Georgetown.
He worked as a sportswriter for various newspapers covering high school, college and professional sports, both in New York and South Florida.
Jim’s primary love was horse racing. He made the annual trip to the Kentucky Derby over a dozen times. The past 8 years he wrote on Horse Racing news through HorseRacingFLA.com, a media company he founded in 2015.
Jim was a regular at Gulfstream Park, reporting on the Florida Derby, Pegasus World Cup, and Fountain of Youth among others. He was tough, but fair in his reporting on the owners, trainer’s and jockey’s many would certainly agree.
He is survived by his brother Robert Hervey Freer (Diane) of Latham, New York, his nephew Brian Hervey Freer (Tracy) of Loudonville, New York , his niece Heather Kurut (Ray), of Frankfort Illinois, his gran-nephew Brandon Freer, and his grand nieces Emily Freer, Ashley Kurut and Anastasia Kurut.
Jim asked for any donations to be made in his name to the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research. A Celebration of Life event at Gulfstream Park will be planned in April. I will announce the details here soon.
~Barry Unterbrink
HorseRacing FLA Operations Manager
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