Ned H. Finkel

LANCASTER, NH - Ned H. Finkel, 59, of Lancaster, NH., passed away on Tuesday afternoon, May 21, surrounded by his family at home.

Born in Philadelphia, PA., in 1959, Ned was the youngest of three children of Morris and Miriam Finkel. He was active in Boy Scouts, managed his own landscaping business as a teenager, played the French horn in his high school orchestra, and graduated from Germantown Friends School in 1977. He first moved to Lancaster after graduating from the University of New Hampshire in 1981 with a degree in journalism. He married Lancaster native and college sweetheart Tawnya Eastman in 1983, and they had two daughters, Abby and Molly.

After working briefly as a journalist, Ned spent nearly 25 years as a marketing expert for the outdoor power equipment industry with a wide range of companies, including Timberland Machines, Scag Power Equipment, Simplicity Tractor, BCS America, and Outdoor Equipment Distributors (OED). For the last two decades, he was self-employed and ran Ned Finkel Marketing and Finkel Marketing LLC from his Lancaster base. During this time, he worked closely for five years with his father, a well-known Philadelphia antiques dealer, to sell antique collectibles online, and discovered his talent for describing and marketing antiquities. Ned most recently worked for five years with Bittner Antiques to sell collectibles online. He specialized in antique pocket watches, selling over 10,000 pocket watches online during his career.

Though he grew up in an urban environment, Ned was a perfect fit for the small-town life of Lancaster and the New Hampshire camp life. His childhood love of salt water fishing expanded as an adult to include fly fishing, and he loved every moment he spent at camp on nearby Martin Meadow Pond, where he took children on turtle searches and relished the sights and sounds of the loons at sunset. He was an active member of his community, serving in the Lancaster Rotary Club for 15 years, with one term as President. And he was a devoted member of the 33 1/3 Record Club, a gathering of friends from throughout the area who enjoyed music, musicians, and memories of the vinyl industry.

For the last 20 years, Ned heroically and successfully lived with multiple myeloma, a blood cell cancer. Though doctors originally gave him just a few years to live when he was first diagnosed with the disease while living in North Carolina in 1999, Ned and his wife Tawnya were unwilling to accept this diagnosis. They immediately sought out cancer experts at The Dana Farber Institute in Boston and later collaborated with physicians at Dartmouth Medical Center and also Weeks Oncology Department. They resettled in Lancaster to be close to Ned's physicians and Tawnya's family, and over the years, Ned continued to beat the odds because of one remarkable trait: He simply wouldn't give up, agreeing to treatment after treatment, often enduring incalculable pain in his quest to live.

The disease took a constant toll on Ned's body but never his spirit. He worked tirelessly from his Lancaster office until a few months before his death and he never complained, except to one time admit that he regretted he could no longer go fly fishing. Through his weekly visits to Weeks, Ned developed a close relationship with the staff, and he deeply appreciated the care he received there. His decades-long battle no doubt advanced the understanding of multiple myeloma and gave the promise of a longer life to countless individuals.

Ned and Tawnya were married for more than 35 years, and she always described him as her best friend. In addition to Tawnya, Ned is survived by their daughters, Abby Richardson (Dom) of Bowie, Maryland and Molly Finkel (partner Joey Palumbo) of Driggs, Idaho; his mother Miriam Finkel of Philadelphia; his mother-in-law Constance Eastman of Lancaster; two older siblings, Kenneth Finkel (Margaret O. Kirk) and Amy Finkel (Richard Braemer) of Philadelphia; sisters-in-law Tamra Eastman (Scott Cramer) and Trisha Eastman (Ken Bolland) of Lancaster; eight nieces and nephews; and two great-nephews.

A celebration of life will be held Saturday, June 8th at 2:00 PM, at St. Paul's Church, Lancaster. Reverend Timothy Brooks, pastor, will officiate. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in Ned's memory to North Country Home Health and Hospice or Weeks Oncology Department.