By Holly Stuart Hughes

Marty Forscher, whose New York City camera repair shop was the stomping ground of the city’s top photographers and who donated his services to photographers of the 1960s Civil Rights movement, has died at age 87. He died September 30, according to photographer Peter B. Kaplan, a long-time friend.

Forscher opened Professional Camera Repair in a ninth floor office space in midtown Manhattan after serving in a Navy photographic unit under Edward Steichen.

The shop became an institution among New York photographers, who came their seeking not only camera repair, but also advice and news. Forscher and his staff repaired camera bodies, lenses and gear for Richard Avedon, Diane Arbus, Eric Meola, Pete Turner, and many photographers at Life magazine, whose offices were located two blocks away. Forscher and his team often created customized equipment to fit photographers' needs.  Among Forscher's inventions was the Forscher Pro Back, which he patented. 

For photographers, Forscher's store on W. 47th Street represented "our little piece of heaven on earth," says Eric Meola, "That place where you met all the photographers whose work you grew up with--Alfred Eisenstadt, Ernst Haas, Eugene Smith-- or their assistants, or their cameras." He adds, "Marty was the guy who took care of us and had soul and, like the guys in those almost mythical gas stations we pulled up to back then, was there to pump the gas and wipe our lenses clean.  He was so, so cool.  And I miss him."

During the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s, he collected cameras and lent them to students and volunteers heading to the South to document what they saw. ''When the cameras would get soaked down by police hoses or beaten up, we'd fix them and send them back south,'' Forscher told The New York Times in a 2001 interview.

Forscher sold the store to two of his technicians in 1987. The store closed in 2001.

Upon his retirement, colleagues Peter B. Kaplan, Ben Fernandez, Howard Chapnik, John Durniak, and Harvey Lloyd collected donations to establish the Marty Forscher Fellowship, recognizing students and young professionals with a talent for humanistic photography. Sponsored by Parsons the New School for Design and PDN, the fellowship awards a $2,500 cash prize to a professional and a $1,500 prize to a student each year.

In recent years, Forscher and his wife, Marion, lived in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. In addition to his wife, Forscher is survived by his sons Paul and Gregg.

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July 18, 2001: New York Repair Institution Closes Its Doors