John Russell Walsh

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http://www.pacpub.com/articles/2007/11/ ... 568129.txt

Obituaries-Nov. 8, 2007
Wednesday, November 7, 2007 8:19 AM EST

John Walsh

NEW HOPE — John Russell Walsh of New Hope, formerly of New York City, died Thursday, Nov. 1, 2007, at Doylestown (Pa.) Hospital.

Mr. Walsh became the skating partner of ice star Sonia Henie in 1950 after being a featured performer from 1946 to 1950 in New York Center Theater ice productions.

Born in 1922, Mr. Walsh and his sister, Alice, learned to skate in their home town of Saranac Lake, N.Y., and in nearby Lake Placid. After high school, he spent four years at St. Lawrence University, followed by two years of service in the Air Corps.

In 1952, he gave up his professional skating career and joined CBS Network’s radio publicity department in New York. He soon was handling CBS assignments for Edward R. Murrow, Walter Cronkite and other news personalities.
A year later, he was assigned to the BBS Television Network and was put in charge of publicity projects that included the award-winning “Playhouse 90.”

Ten years later, he became president of his own New York City publicity firm. For 30 years, he represented such names as Noel Coward, Judy Garland, Helen Hayes, Cole Porter, Jack Benny, Lucille Ball, Rita Hayworth, Ethel Merman, Carol Burnett, Arlene Frances, James Beard, Willie Mays and Baroness Phillipine de Rothschild.

He created the National Men’s Fashion Awards for which he wrote musical numbers and materials for hosts Tony Randall, Celeste Holm, Lauren Bacall and others.

He also handled public relations for Colgate’s Dinah Shore Golf Championships for 11 years, which included production of tournament entertainment, featuring Frank Sinatra, Rita Hayworth and Andy Williams.

A resident of New Hope since 1962, he commuted daily to his New York office and to assignments around the country. During the early 1970s, he also was a working partner at the River’s Edge Restaurant in Lambertville.

In 1976, he married Sylvia Becker, a longtime friend.

In 1990, Mr. Walsh was elected president of the New Hope-Solebury Public Library. In 1994, he and his wife created “Musical Fireworks,” a concert series to benefit the library.

For nine years, these classical programs were held in major halls.

He also was a member of the New Hope Eagle Fire Company and the Lambertville-New Hope Ambulance and Rescue Squad.

In 1993, he was elected ambassador of Bucks County by the Central Bucks County Chamber of Commerce. In 2001, he was honored by the Lake Placid Olympics Committee for his work with Sonia Henie and his lifelong dedication to the sport of skating.

Mr. Walsh had taken piano lessons from the age of 7 and wrote music and lyrics for many professional events.

He graduated from Saranac Lake High School in 1939 at the age of 17. It was the time of the Depression, and before graduation, he worked at the local library, as a bus boy at a local hotel and at a summer resort where he helped Albert Einstein take his boat out daily.

Thanks to financial help from his grandfather, Dr. John Russell, plus a student scholarship, he entered St. Lawrence University where he majored in English and psychology. As a member of the Phi Sigma Kappa fraternity, he organized the ice shows for the annual winter carnivals.

When World War II began, he was called to duty halfway through his senior year. After six months in the infantry, he was accepted into the Army Air Force. He was completing pilot training when Gen. Eisenhower called for all men with infantry training to be returned to the infantry.

After glider work with the 13th Airborne Infantry Division, he was stationed in France. His company was eventually moved to Le Havre to get ready to leave for the war with Japan.
Then VE Day arrived. The atomic bomb was dropped, VJ Day followed, and Mr. Walsh’s company was sent home. On his way home, he stopped and auditioned for the ice show in New York’s Center Theater.

He is survived by his wife, Sylvia; his sister, Alice Kennedy of New Hope; two brothers, Robert Walsh of Summerfield, Fla., and Eugene Walsh of Burbank, Calif.; his nephew, Kevin Kennedy of New Hope; and his stepchildren, Dean Becker of Schwenksville, Pa., and Ellie Becker of Norwalk, Conn.

No funeral service is planned.

Memorial donations may be made to the New Hope-Solebury Library, 93 W. Ferry St., New Hope, 18938.

Arrangements are under the direction of the Van Horn-McDonough Funeral Home, Lambertville.