James Robert Hirsch

James Robert Hirsch died peacefully on March 11, 2026, at the age of 74, surrounded by his loving wife and children after a nearly 30-year battle with Parkinson’s disease. He was the strongest, hardest-working, and most loving man one could ever imagine.

Born on June 22, 1951, in Lunenburg, Massachusetts, Jim was the only child of Robert and Dorothy Hirsch. He grew up immersed in the family business, Hirsch Lumber, learning to drive the tractor at the sawmill when he was just ten. A 1969 graduate of Lunenburg High School, he excelled both academically and athletically, playing offense, defense, and special teams for the Blue Knights football team while setting a long-standing school record in the shot put.

Jim went on to the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, where he met his future wife, Marla Ann Marant of Hamilton, New Jersey, during their freshman year. They married on June 23, 1973, in New Jersey surrounded by Marla’s large Italian family, then returned to Lunenburg so Jim could join the family business as the third-generation owner and operator of Hirsch Lumber. He thrived at the sawmill, happiest when tinkering to improve production. Together with his father, he pioneered several innovations, including the vertical chipping edger.

Outside of work, Jim tended a vegetable garden, cared for fruit trees, raised dairy goats, and occasionally sailed his Sunfish. Yet his greatest joy was always his family. A devoted and playful husband and father, he was one of the founding members of the Lunenburg Youth Soccer Association and gave countless hours coaching, refereeing, and running the league so his children could play locally. After his parents passed away in 2014, he closed the sawmill and retired to spend more time with those he loved.

He is survived by his wife of nearly 53 years, Marla Marant Hirsch of Lunenburg, Massachusetts; his son David and daughter-in-law Erin, and their children Finley, Grayson, and Wyatt of Bedford, New Hampshire; his son Michael and daughter-in-law Nathalie, and their children Gabriel and Abigail of Cincinnati, Ohio; his son Stephen and son-in-law Mike Blakie, and their daughter Madilyn of South Glastonbury, Connecticut; and his daughter Kristen Murphy and son-in-law Jim, and their son Finnegan, with a second son on the way, of Dunbarton, New Hampshire.