Tiffany Razzano
Born on Sept. 12, 1916, Barasch spent his entire life in Rockville Centre. In fact, his father, Michael, had first moved to the village in 1907, nearly 100 years ago. His family was prominent in town, with his father owning a local business. His brother, Samuel, became an attorney and real estate developer, eventually becoming the director of parks and recreation for the village. Barasch Field is named after him. Their other brother, Norman, wrote for Broadway, film and television.
Lewis Barasch always had a keen interest in sports, playing a wide variety of the sports at Riverside School and South Side High School, despite the fact that he had Polio as a baby, leaving him with one leg shorter than the other and a defined limp. Despite this, he played football, baseball, basketball and was a handicapped golfer. He was also the captain of the South Side's golf team.
"He played everything," said his wife Grace Pisarro Barasch. "I don't know how he did it. He was a little guy."
After graduating from South Side in 1932, he attended Nassau Community College, and was a member of its first graduating class. In the midst of the Great Depression, Barasch began his career as a sports writer, a natural occupation choice, as he had a flair for writing and an avid interest in all sports. He wrote for the Long Island Daily Press.
However, like many people at the time, his family had money problems. So he quit his job as a journalist and began his career at a publicist in the entertainment industry, working for both United Artists and Paramount Pictures.
"He was a wonderful writer... and would have pursued a writing career if he made enough money from it," said Barasch's brother Norman. "He had to abandon... his writing career to work and help support the family. If not for the Depression, he would have blossomed into a full-time writer."
His family also moved from their home on South Front Street to the first ever apartment building built in Rockville Centre, located on Jefferson Avenue. This is where he met his eventual wife, Grace, in 1949. She had moved to RVC from her family home in Ohio, after receiving a master's degree in education from Cornell University, to teach in the Oceanside School District. She became close with Barasch and his family, but the two didn't marry until 1957.
"We did not have an ordinary marriage," Grace said. "We had a very close relationship, and a wonderful marriage." The two eventually had a son, Michael, who owned a small business on Wall Street before moving down to Palm Beach, Florida to become a real estate developer.
After working for Paramount, at the urging of a friend, and fellow Rockville Centre resident, Nick Grande, who had just started working at the Roosevelt Raceway, Barasch began working as a publicist for the raceway. Though he previously didn't have an interest in horse racing, his wife said, he was attracted to the position because he considered it to be a challenge.
He began to work on one of the track's most well-known races, the International Trot. Acting as an ambassador of sorts, Barasch travelled throughout Europe, as well as other parts of the world, recruiting horses for the race. One of the most famous things he did was to go behind the Iron Curtain to Eastern Europe in 1973, to get two horses to come race in America.
Because of Barasch's work, the International Trot developed into one of the sport's biggesst races. Because he had worked in the entertainment industry for a period, he was able to draw some of the biggest celebrities at the time, such as Elizabeth Taylor, Milton Berle, Paul Newman, Debbie Reynolds and Merv Griffin to help with promotions at the racetrack. In 1970, he was promoted to public relations director at the raceway.
When the Roosevelt Raceway closed in 1988, Barasch continued to promote the International Trot after it moved to Yonkers Raceway.
Barasch, a member of the U.S. Harness Writers' Association and a founding member of the North American Harness Publicists' Association (NAHPA), was inducted into the Communicator's Corner at the Harness Racing Museum and Hall of Fame, in Goshen, N.Y., in 1995. He also won the 1984 Allen J. Finkelson Golden Pen Award, presented by the NAHPA, as well as two lifetime achievement awards.
Upon retirement, the Baraschs moved to Palm Beach, Florida during the winter, but during the summers remained at the Aldred Avenue home they've lived at for over 35 years. Barasch also remained interested in the world around him, from politics to sports, said his wife.
Barasch, a modest man who "spent his life making other people look good," was very bright and was known for his wonderful sense of humor, said his wife. She also said that he was a great storyteller and was beloved by people around the world.
"He was a great mimic, had a great sense of humor and was an appreciator of people," said his brother Norman. "I never knew anyone more beloved, not just in his circle of friends, but because he travelled internationally, he met people all over the world. He loved people and they loved him. He knew people in almost every country of the world. He just attracted a lot of people who admired and loved him."
Barasch is survived by his wife, Grace Pisarro Barasch; his son Michael Barasch and daughter-in-law Natalie Barasch; his brother, Norman Barasch and his two sons, Douglas and Marc Barasch; nephew and niece Nicholas and Regina Simone; grand nephew and grand niece Dr. Joseph and Maureen Simone; four great grand nieces and nephews, Julia, Theresa, Sarah, and Joseph.
