James L. Novack of West Tisbury died Jan. 15 following a long illness. He was 73.

Jim was born in Greenwich, Conn., to Solomon and Sylvia Cornwell Novack in September 1946. He attended school in Portchester, N.Y. He graduated from Ithaca College. He married Leah A. Houghton on July 16, 1988 in Ithaca, and worked as an audio-visual specialist for the College of Human Ecology at Cornell University for 28 years. Following a move to the Vineyard, Jim was the director/manager of the Performing Arts Center at the Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School from 1998 through 2008.

Jim will be remembered for his wonderful sense of humor including an inability to repress puns no matter how awful. He was quick to help anyone, anywhere with audio-visual issues and later spent some years as the technical guru at the Chicken Alley Thrift Store. Never one to shun a garage sale, Jim had the ability to find a home (most often his home) for any and all items that needed fixing.

He was predeceased by his parents, and is survived by his wife, Leah, his brother David and a nephew.

A celebration of life will be held in September of this year.

The family wishes to extend sincere thanks to Dr. Samuel Elias, Bridges Assisted Living, Beacon Hospice, and his many, wonderful friends.