The longtime philanthropist and Adirondack Park land owner died Monday at Saratoga Hospital
By Wendy Liberatore, Times Union, and Adirondack Explorer
Philanthropist, horse racing enthusiast and significant Adirondack Park property owner John Hendrickson died at Saratoga Hospital on Monday afternoon, a close friend of the family confirmed.
The 59-year-old reported feeling unwell just before lunch at Cady Hill, the Saratoga Springs home he had shared with his late wife, socialite Marylou Whitney.
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“I was at the hospital holding his hand,” said Maureen Lewi. “I was talking to him, but he wouldn’t talk back — he was gone.”
Lewi said Hendrickson was “the best husband to Marylou, he was the best of friends to Ed” — Lewi’s late husband, the prominent publicist Ed Lewi, who died in 2015 — “and he was the best to the backstretch workers. All his waking hours, he was thinking about how he could give to others.”
After his wife’s death in 2019 at age 93, Hendrickson worked to develop a health clinic for track workers, as well as serving meals and providing entertainment for the employees throughout the Saratoga Race Course meet.
In addition to the clinic, Hendrickson also paid to revamp the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame, where he served as chairman beginning in 2017.
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Hendrickson has been trying to sell his late wife’s properties — in part, he would say, because they were no longer places of fun without her.
Among choice Adirondack properties he has been trying to sell: the former summer residence called “Camp on a Point” on Little Tupper Lake in Hamilton County. On 58 acres of land, the five-bedroom and four-bath home was listed for $5.25 million.
Hendrickson also listed the 36,000-acre Whitney estate near Long Lake. The price sought in 2020 was $180 million.
No doubt his estate will sell out to the state of despair that is New York. On another note, it’s kind off creepy that the guy married a woman almost forty years his senior.
It just means you don’t know him. I’ve known him since 9th grade. Never changed 1 bit. He was everyones friend… This suited him to a T…read more articles…not 1 bad thing to say. He even paid for our 40 yr class reunion Friday night dinner last yr that he attended…he was still as down to earth as he had ever been.
Well said, Nancy! John was a class act from day one. I worked for a private agency that provided services for residents with developmental disabilities, at a fundraising function he said “some people think that I only married Mary Lou for her money, they were right, double our donation”, to the delight of the crowd. As far as Mary Lou goes, see was a class act and the princess of Saratoga. As kids we used to sleigh ride on her property on Cady Hill, where she would have urns of hot chocolate until someone got her and sued the estate. She also, supported downtown businesses, one being the City Center. My first job was a setup person there, she knew our names and would also bring donuts and coffee, knowing it was a treat for us. RIP John, you will be missed in the Saratoga community.