Service scheduled for Richard Hamilton, former NYRA steward who died at 76

There will be a public memorial service held Wednesday night at 7:30 p.m. at the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame for Richard Hamilton, a longtime steward for the New York Racing Association, who died on April 18. He was 76.

After he left his job as steward in 1995, Hamilton served as communications officer at the museum.

A native of Lowell, Mass., Hamilton graduated from Emerson College in 1958 and served in the United States Army until 1961. He worked for the Daily Racing Form, various radio stations in New England, and the ABC Radio Network before joining the Jockey Club in 1972. He joined NYRA as a racing official in 1975 and served in a variety of capacities, including clerk of the course, paddock judge, placing judge, and alternate steward. Hamilton was appointed NYRA steward in 1989, a position he held for six years.

Although Hamilton officially retired in 2005, he returned to the museum in a volunteer capacity in 2011. He was also a volunteer at Saratoga Hospital and in the History Room at Saratoga Springs Public Library.