Robert "ALLAN" Carter

Robert “ALLAN” Carter, 81, of Saratoga Springs, NY, died April 10, 2022, after a yearlong battle from lung cancer. He was predeceased by his parents, Robert C., and Carolyn F. Carter, of Glens Falls, NY, and his brother, Stuart G. Carter of Rochester, NY. He leaves behind his wife, Paula Curtis-Carter, with whom he spent thirty-two wonderful years; his stepson, Patrick Curtis, of Saratoga Springs; and two sisters, Katherine Ewel (Jack) of Gainesville, FL, and Carol Carter of San Francisco, CA.

After graduating from Glens Falls High School in 1959 and Harpur College (now Binghamton University) in 1963, he enlisted in the United States Army. After completing a nine-month course in Russian at the Defense Language Institute, West Coast Branch (formerly called the Army Language School) in Monterey, CA. He served two overseas duties in Turkey and Japan and was honorably discharged in July 1967. After receiving his Master’s in Library Science from the State University of New York at Albany he began a thirty-year career at the New York State Library at Albany NY as a law librarian. In 1995 he received The West Excellence in Government Law Librarianship Award, a national award. During his employment at the State Library, he wrote numerous publications concerning New York legal research. Among the most prominent were The New York State Constitution: Sources of Legislative Intent (second edition, 2001), Public Library Law in New York State (revised 2006); and Legislative Intent in New York State: Materials, Cases and Annotated Bibliography (second edition, 2001).

After his retirement from the New York State Library in 2003 he volunteered at the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame as an assistant to the Museum’s historian, assuming the position of Historian six months later, retiring from the Racing Museum in 2018. His love of horse racing resulted in the authoring of three more books: 150 Years of Racing in Saratoga: Little-Known Stories and Facts from America’s Most Historic Racing City, co-authored with Mike Kane (2013); From American Eclipse to Silent Screen: An Early History of New York-Breds (2017); and New York’s Greatest Thoroughbreds: A Contemporary History to be published in the summer of 2022.    A highlight of his life was appearing in WMHT’s television production The Track at Saratoga, America’s Grandest Race Course, July14, 2013. Bridge was another retirement activity he thoroughly enjoyed. He played Duplicate Bridge at both the Adirondack Duplicate Bridge Club in Lake George, NY and the Senior Citizens Center in Glens Falls, NY.  In honor of Allan’s passion for Thoroughbred Race Horses, please send donations in lieu of flowers to our local Thoroughbred Retirement Farm in Saratoga at: Old Friends at Cabin Creek 483 Sand Hill Rd, Greenfield Center, N.Y. 12833. A Celebration of Life will be held in memory of Allan this summer at the Saratoga Racetrack 2022 Meet.

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