Karl Mins Finger, 85, of Monterey, passed away peacefully at Fairview Commons in Great Barrington on Wednesday, January 1, 2025. He was born in New York City on November 10, 1939, to Sophie “Suds” Evelyn Mins Finger and Raphael “Phil” Montague Finger.
As a child and in high school, while living in Croton-on-Hudson, N.Y., he attended Camp Woodland in upstate New York, where he met Pete Seeger and began a lifelong passion for music and social justice.

After high school, Karl went to the University of Chicago, where he played tennis on the varsity team and received a Bachelor of Science in Biological Science. Karl also completed two years of graduate study at the Columbia University School of General Studies.
In the 1960s, Karl was briefly married to Judith Friedman (née Judith Irene Kaplan).
Karl was an accomplished, internationally known recording artist, folk singer, guitarist, and a leader of folk dances from around the world. He also called squares and contra dances.
The dance evenings and weekends Karl ran in Brooklyn; Manhattan; western Massachusetts; Chaits Hotel in the Catskills; and Solway House in Saugerties, N.Y.—bringing in top folk dance teachers from across the country—made for a warm and vibrant environment for everyone to learn, dance, and have fun.
Rene Traum-Gold, who knew Karl from Chaits Hotel events, said, “Karl Finger was an icon, a hero, and one of the kindest people I have known. He taught us to dance and sing, and he taught us about compassion, humility, kindness, justice, and speaking (or singing) our voices for those who had no voice.”
For more than 30 years, he led trips to over 50 countries around the world, learning local dances and folk music, as well as conducting workshops for American travelers who were interested in cultural exploration. The dancers, musicians, and enthusiastic travelers who joined him on these trips number in the thousands.

Karl appeared on radio and TV in the U.S. and abroad; he wrote, performed, and published his own music; and he performed on over 40 music albums and several singles. He lectured on folk music’s role in history and social movements at schools, colleges, and universities. Karl produced and performed on a series of albums of folk dances and singing games for children. He performed at nightclubs, festivals, colleges, schools, concert halls, resorts, and cruise ships, including many international venues in the countries he visited.
In addition to teaching dances from around the world, Karl choreographed for and performed with several international folk dance troupes. He also organized and led weekend-long festivals, workshops, classes, dance parties, music concerts, and jam sessions. Over 11,000 people took part in these weekend festivals of music, dance, and camaraderie.
As explained by a close friend, “He was the truest of performers, connecting with his audience, putting them at ease, drawing them masterfully into his own love of music and dance. My experiences with his dance groups always ended the same way: ‘just one more dance…’ over and over and over again.”

Karl had an extraordinary ability to take a tune and use his own lyrics to transform it into a tribute, a birthday wish, a life story… He would disappear for an hour or so, then reappear with a piece of paper, ready to deliver his musical gift.
For his last 60 years, Karl called the Berkshires his home. He found peace and solitude in his beloved log house, situated up a long dirt road, tucked deep in the forest. Karl was a true woodsman, with great strength. He masterfully felled trees, wielding a chainsaw to cut them into massive rounds and then hoisting them onto his wood splitter. He loved tending his garden, nurturing the blueberries and raspberries that grew there. He was passionate about politics and social justice throughout his life. Karl was a good athlete; he enjoyed a good game of tennis, table tennis, or badminton. His golden retriever, Jesse, was often at his side.
Karl’s entire life experience was consistent with his view that music and dance are fundamental and essential to human existence. He generously shared his passion and gift for music and dance with those he loved: family, friends and community in Monterey.
Karl was predeceased by his parents, Sophie (“Suds”) Mins Finger and father Raphael (“Phil”) Montague Finger; his sister Barbara Clark; and his brother Gregory Finger. He is survived by his nephew Marc Dorfman of Lawrenceville, N.J., and his sister-in-law Joan Hollister of New Paltz, N.Y.
A memorial service will be planned in the spring. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made in his memory to the Center for Constitutional Rights, the Michael J. Fox Foundation, to an organization in western Massachusetts that you know was meaningful to Karl.