Obituary

Martin B. (Marty) Stiles, a staff writer for the Cornell News Service and Cornell Chronicle for more than 20 years, died Dec. 13, 2003, in Cortland at the age of 71. He had suffered a heart attack while driving home from the Greek Peak ski center, where he was a volunteer instructor in the Adaptive Ski Program.

Born in Elmira, N.Y., Stiles graduated from Pennsylvania Military College (now Widener College) and served in the U.S. Air Force as a navigator at a base in Casablanca, Morocco, where he rose to the rank of first lieutenant. He worked as a reporter at the New Jersey-based Bergen County Record (now The Record) and joined the staff of the former Cornell News Bureau in 1966. Assigned to the arts and humanities beats, Stiles cultivated a lifelong passion for music, theology, art, poetry and dance, and was an accomplished flamenco guitarist.

Stiles retired from the Cornell News Service in 1987 and turned his attention to four passions -- golf, skiing, sailing and volunteer work -- while restoring a Greek revival farmhouse in Groton, N.Y. He served as a youth athletics coach, a board member and treasurer of Stonehedges Golf Course and a board member of the Groton Nursing Facility.

Survivors include three children, Susan Stiles of Edina, Minn., George Stiles of Pittsburgh and Enrique Stiles of San Diego, all Cornell graduates; one granddaughter; a brother and a sister.

A memorial service on the Cornell campus is planned for this summer. Memorial donations in Stiles' name may be made to the Adaptive Ski Program, c/o First National Bank of Groton, 161 Main St., Groton, NY 13073.