WORT Loses Another Longtime Volunteer

Jeff Hickey
(1951 - 2009)

January 28, 1951 - July 14, 2009

Sadly, WORT has lost another longtime programmer and great friend of community radio. Jeff Hickey passed away yesterday morning from complications following a serious single-car auto accident on June 27th. Jeff spent the last two weeks in intensive care, but was never able to recover. He was accompanied in his final days at the hospital by his family and friends, including "Back to the Country" host Bill Malone for whom he had engineered since the Summer of 1999. Jeff's 2003 released CD "Loose Ends" was chosen Best Acoustic Album at the 2004 Madison Area Music Awards (MAMAs). The Madison Folk Music Society called him "an award winning singer-songwriter who is also an accomplished instrumentalist and a fine interpreter of American traditional music" in their August 2006 newsletter.

Harvey Reid, Jeff's good friend and business partner in the "Third Hand Capo" company, wrote:

"It is with great sadness and regret that I must now announce the passing of one of my favorite friends, Jefferson H. Hickey. He is survived by his wife Terry, his daughter Cayleigh (14) and his son Brendan. (12) One the night of June 27 he fell asleep at the wheel in a 1-car accident and after 2 weeks fighting for his life in intensive care, the end came very early this morning on July 14. I could drone on for a long time about Jeff's spirit, his powers of observation, his wit, his zest for life, and his fine musicianship. He had a truly impressive nose for finding and thoroughly enjoying what he saw as marvelous, and was almost always the first to see through nonsense and spot things that were unfair or bogus. I was always delighted to hear him describe with dead-on accuracy just which pop star, athlete, movie or marketing campaign or whatever he would notice deserved a bit of old-fashioned scoffing. I have known him since 1979 when we met in Nashville, and he has been a great friend and business associate of mine ever since."

On their website ThirdHandCapo.Com, Reid continues:

"We sadly note the passing of our friend Jeff on on July 14, 2009 from complications following a car accident. We will miss him greatly and try to carry on in his absence. Jeff Hickey has worked in some aspect of the music business for over 30 years, as a musician, songwriter, guitar teacher, and guitar repair technician. He was US sales manager for Larrivee Guitars, and at the time of his death was working on a recording and a book about the partial capo. Jeff did some free-lance writing for guitar magazines, and lived in Madison, WI where he helped with local radio shows, concerts, and played local gigs and taught guitar. He is survived by his wife and 2 children, and made a marvelous CD called 'Loose Ends.'"

Reid plans to help distribute the remaining copies of Jeff's CD through his website "http://www.thirdhandcapo.com/jeff/index.html" to help raise money for Jeff's family.

A Memorial and Benefit Concert for Jeff Hickey & his family