Obituary of Scott Martin

July 15, 2024

Scott Martin, a writer who also published books with his friends, died Monday morning July 15 at his home in Washington Heights.  The cause was cardiac arrest, although he had been dealing with cancer and other medical problems.  He was 72.

He is survived by his partner, Adrienne Williams, who was present when he was stricken.

Scott was born Feb. 19, 1952 in Manhattan, the son of Beatrice (Sullivan) and Donald N. Martin.  His older brother, Neil, survives, as does a niece, Alison.

He was married for several years to Lorraine Bumpars who died in 1995.

Growing up, Scott was well known as a high-school athlete in Hastings-on-Hudson, where the family lived for some years.  He played basketball and baseball (catcher), and three years as the starting quarterback for the football team.  Before that, as a young boy, he started fan clubs for the brand-new Mets.  He rooted for many players and many teams, but always stayed true to the Mets. 

Injured in his senior year, he turned to creating a Xeroxed newsletter for his friends which he called Gurn.  That led to writing of poetry, songs, and stories for various small publications.  A longtime member of Fountain House, the Manhattan clubhouse for people with serious mental illness, he launched a popular newsletter with other members called The New Press.

In 1971, he studied poetry at the Grove Street College in Oakland, Calif., and subsequently took courses at The New School, York College and New York University, where he studied book publishing.

He wrote in large part to make sense of his world and his feelings, which was particularly important after the onset of mental-health problems beginning in his early 20s.  It took years, but he brought that illness under control, and did everything he had to do to avoid isolation from family and friends.

He later created his own Daylight Books imprint, under which he published two books by Brenda Faye Collie (a Fountain House friend and a playwright who had received a Lorraine Hansberry Award).  They are Almost a Senior and College Freshman 101.  Making a little money was OK with them, and he succeeded in listing at least one volume with Amazon or Barnes & Noble, then mounted a PR drive, with radio interviews for Ms. Collie.

Most of Daylight Books’ output was Scott’s own work, including Anthology, Phillywood, Martin’s Pictorial New York and From Jersey to Oakland, which traced cross-country travels, and were laced with statistical profiles of neighborhoods and cities where he lived as well as with his experiences and observations.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks that you consider a donation to Fountain House, the Manhattan clubhouse that helps mentally ill people lead connected and healthy lives.

https://www.fountainhouse.org/donate

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