Former BRP CanAm 360 Late Model Series director and long-time motorsports announcer and broadcaster Gary Montgomery of Keuka Park, N.Y., died Wednesday night following a year-long battle with lymphoma. He passed away on his 74th birthday.

Montgomery spent 12 years operating the BRP CanAm 360 Late Model Series, which visited tracks in New York, Pennsylvania and Canada. He oversaw the tour’s 145th and final event in 2014 at Woodhull (N.Y.) Raceway.

Less than two months ago, on Sept. 24, Montgomery was honored at Woodhull when the track’s 360 Late Model class performed a four-wide pace lap as he watched from the tower. It was one of his last racetrack appearances as his health began worsening.

A retired employee of the Xerox corporation, Montgomery also worked with the Dirt Late Model division as the promoter of Little Valley (N.Y.) Speedway in the early 2000s.

Montgomery was best known in the motorsports industry for his long career on the microphone. After calling his first race in 1959, he went on to serve as the announcer at such New York big-block modified tracks as Canandaigua Motorsports Park, Weedsport Speedway and the New York State Fairgrounds in Syracuse. In addition, he was a color commentator for live television broadcasts of DIRTcar-sanctioned big-block modified races in the late ‘90s and covered many NASCAR events as a pit reporter for MRN radio.

A memorial service for Montgomery will be held on Sat., Nov. 12, at 1 p.m. at the First Presbyterian Church of Penn Yan, N.Y.