Marianne Webb dead at 77

Clyde Holloway died December 18, 2013, in Houston, Texas. He was 77 years old. The Herbert S. Autrey Professor Emeritus of Organ at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music in Houston, Holloway earned B.Mus. (1957) and M.Mus. (1959) degrees from the University of Oklahoma, studying with Mildred Andrews, and the S.M.D. degree in 1974 from Union Theological Seminary, studying with Robert Baker.

Holloway’s concert career began in 1964 when he won the National Young Artists Competition of the American Guild of Organists (AGO) in Philadelphia. He performed under the auspices of Karen McFarlane Artists, and was a featured artist at numerous AGO conventions, also appearing in recital in Mexico City, the West Indies, and Europe.

His doctoral dissertation, The Organ Works of Olivier Messiaen and Their Importance in His Total Oeuvre, remains an important monograph concerning this music. Holloway worked with the composer on several occasions, examined his works at the organ of the Church of the Holy Trinity in Paris, and performed under his supervision. As a Fulbright Scholar at the Amsterdam Conservatory, he worked with Gustav Leonhardt in the study of organ, harpsichord, and chamber music.

Clyde Holloway began his teaching career in 1965 as the youngest member of the Indiana University School of Music faculty. In 1977, he joined the faculty of Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music, where he established the organ program and served as Chairman of the Keyboard Department and Director of Graduate Studies. The school’s widely acclaimed Fisk-Rosales organ embodies his unique understanding of how numerous organ-building traditions and tonal designs are manifested in organ literature and will be considered his most profound contribution to Rice University, Houston, and the larger musical world. He also served as organist and choirmaster of Christ Church Cathedral in Houston for many years; in 1993, he was named Honorary Lay Canon and Organist and Choirmaster Emeritus.

Renowned as a gifted pedagogue, Dr. Holloway served on the AGO’s Committee for Professional Education, addressed two conferences of the National Conference on Organ Pedagogy, led workshops and masterclasses, and served as a member of the jury for numerous competitions, including the Concours de Europe, the Fort Wayne Competition, the Music Teachers National Association Competition, the National Young Artists Competition of the American Guild of Organists, and the Grand Prix de Chartres. In 1994 he was invited to perform for the Bicentennial Festival of the celebrated Clicquot organ in the Cathedral of Poitiers, France, and served as a member of the jury for the international competition held at the end of the ten-day festival. 

Sylvie Poirier, 65 years old, passed away December 21, 2013 in Montréal of cancer. Born in Montréal on February 15, 1948 into a family of artists, her father was a goldsmith jeweller, and her mother, a painter and sculptor, was a pupil of the renowned painter Paul-Emile Borduas. Influenced by her parents, she began drawing and painting, and studied piano from an early age and later studied organ at l’Ecole de Musique Vincent d’Indy, Montréal. In 1970 she gained her baccalaureat in the class of Françoise Aubut and went on to study at the Conservatoire de Musique de Montréal with Bernard Lagacé, with whom she obtained her Premier Prix in 1975. In 1976 Poirier studied at l’Université de Montréal with the blind French organist Antoine Reboulot. From 1977–1983 she was professeur affilié at l’Ecole de Musique Vincent d’Indy, presenting private music and drawing courses around Montréal.

In 1983 she became the Founding President of “Unimusica Inc.” whose objective was to bring together the art forms of music, painting, enamels, as well as poetry and photography. At the invitation of the oncologist founder of “Vie nouvelle” at Hôtel-Dieu Hospital, Montréal, Poirier taught a course specifically designed for cancer patients entitled “Psychology of Life through Drawing” in the 1980s. 

She gave recitals in North America and Europe and broadcast many times for Radio Canada. Her organ duet career with her husband Philip Crozier spanned eighteen years, with eight commissioned and premièred works, numerous concerts in many countries, several broadcasts at home and abroad, and three CDs of original organ duets.

Sylvie Poirier also recorded Jean Langlais’ Première Symphonie, and Petr Eben’s Job and The Labyrinth of the World and the Paradise of the Heart; she gave the latter work’s North American première of the published version in Montréal in 2005. Poirier was also an accomplished painter and portraitist; examples of her work can be found at sylviepoirier.com.

She was predeceased by her only son Frédéric (30) in 2007. Sylvie Poirier is survived by her husband, Philip Crozier.

Phares L. Steiner died in Louisville, Kentucky, on September 14, 2013 at age 85. Born in Lima, Ohio, Steiner earned a bachelor’s degree in organ at the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, and a master’s degree in organ performance at the University of Michigan in 1952, where he studied with Robert Noehren and where he began his career as an organ builder, at first working with Noehren. In 1953 with Noehren as consultant, Steiner designed the prototype of an electric-action slider chest. After service in the Army he worked with Fouser Associates in Birmingham, Michigan from 1955 to 1957. He established Steiner Organs Inc. in 1959 in Cincinnati, Ohio, and in 1962 relocated to Louisville, where he was joined in 1966 by Gottfried Reck from Kleuker in Germany. They incorporated in 1968 as Steiner Reck Inc.; Steiner was responsible for tonal matters of more than 90 organs, many of which were mechanical action. 

After retiring from Steiner Reck in 1988, he continued pipe organ work on a freelance basis, including working at Webber & Borne Organ Builders, and R.A. Daffer in the Washington, D.C. area while living in Columbia, Maryland. Phares Steiner returned to Louisville in 2003 with his family, where they became members of the Cathedral of the Assumption, home to one of his largest instruments.  

A charter member of the American Institute of Organbuilders, Steiner was also an active member of APOBA at Steiner Reck and a member of Phi Mu Alpha music fraternity. He also served as organist at several churches, including St. Louis Catholic Church in Clarkesville, Maryland, and Trinity Catholic Church, Louisville. 

Phares L. Steiner is survived by his wife Ellen Heineman Steiner, daughter Adrienne, son Paul, and brother, Donald F. Steiner M.D.

Marianne Webb, 77, of Carbondale, Illinois, died December 7, 2013, at Parkway Manor in Marion, Illinois, from metastatic breast cancer, which she had for the past 20 years. She enjoyed a lengthy and distinguished career as a recitalist and professor of music at Southern Illinois University Carbondale (SIUC).

Miss Webb was born on October 4, 1936, in Topeka, Kansas where she exhibited an early passion for organ music. While in Topeka, she began her studies with Richard M. Gayhart and continued with Jerald Hamilton at Washburn University, where she earned her Bachelor of Music degree, summa cum laude, in 1958. She obtained the Master of Music degree, with highest distinction, from the University of Michigan (1959), as a scholarship student of Marilyn Mason. Further study was with Max Miller of Boston University and Robert Noehren at the University of Michigan.

After teaching organ and piano at Iowa State University for two years, she continued her studies in Paris as a Fulbright scholar with André Marchal. Further graduate study was with Arthur Poister at Syracuse University and Russell Saunders at the Eastman School of Music.

Marianne Webb taught organ and music theory and served as university organist at Southern Illinois University Carbondale from 1965 until her retirement in 2001 as professor emerita of music. She continued to serve as visiting professor and distinguished university organist for an additional 11 years. During her tenure, she built a thriving organ department and established, organized, and directed the nationally acclaimed SIUC Organ Festivals (1966–1980), the first of their kind in the country. The school’s 58-rank Reuter pipe organ she sought funding for and designed was named in her honor.

Miss Webb married David N. Bateman on October 3, 1970, in Carbondale. Together they gave the endowment that established in perpetuity the Marianne Webb and David N. Bateman Distinguished Organ Recital Series that presents each year outstanding, well-established concert organists in recital for the residents of southern Illinois.

As a concert artist, Marianne Webb toured extensively throughout the United States, performing for American Guild of Organists (AGO) chapters, churches, colleges and universities. In addition, she maintained an active schedule of workshops, master classes, and seminars for church music conferences. A member of the AGO, she served the guild as a member of the national committees on Educational Resources, Chapter Development, and Membership Development and Chapter Support. Locally, she re-established the Southern Illinois Chapter of the AGO in 1983 and served as its dean for six years. She performed recitals and presented workshops at numerous AGO national and regional conventions. For many years she concertized under the auspices of the Phillip Truckenbrod Concert Artists. She recorded on the ProOrgano and Pleiades labels and was featured on the nationally syndicated American Public Media program “Pipedreams.” 

Miss Webb maintained a balanced career as both performer and teacher. Her students have distinguished themselves by winning local, area, and national competitions. A sought-after adjudicator, Miss Webb was a member of the jury for many of the country’s most prestigious competitions. She also served as an organ consultant to numerous churches in the Midwest.

A special collection, which bears her name, is housed in the University Archives of Morris Library on the SIUC campus. Upon completion, this collection will include all of her professional books, music, recordings, and papers. Her “Collection of Sacred Music” has been appraised as “one of the largest private gatherings of sacred music in the world with a particular emphasis on the pipe organ.”

Among numerous honors during her long and distinguished career, Miss Webb has received the Distinguished Service Award from Southern Illinois University Carbondale, life membership in the Fulbright Association, the AGO’s Edward A. Hansen Leadership Award recognizing her outstanding leadership in the Guild, and the St. Louis AGO Chapter’s Avis Blewett Award, given for outstanding contributions to the field of organ and/or sacred music. From the Theta Chapter of Sigma Alpha Iota at Washburn University she received the Sword of Honor and the Honor Certificate.

Miss Webb is survived by her twin sister, Peggy Westlund; a niece, Allison Langford; a nephew, Todd Westlund; a godson, R. Kurt Barnhardt, PhD; and her former husband, Dr. David N. Bateman.

Throughout her lifetime Miss Webb was confronted with great adversities, which she overcame to become a nationally recognized organ teacher and recitalist. She leaves an impressive legacy of students holding positions of prominence in colleges and churches throughout the United States. She will be remembered not only for her musical artistry and excellence in teaching, but as a woman of quiet strength, courage, and abiding faith. In gratitude to God for her lifelong career, she established the St. Cecilia Recital Endowment in 2007 to present world-renowned concert organists in recital during the biennial national conventions of the American Guild of Organists.

At a later date, a memorial organ recital played by Paul Jacobs will take place in Shryock Auditorium, Southern Illinois University Carbondale. Memorials may be sent to SIU Foundation to benefit the Distinguished Organ Recital Series Endowment. 

—Dennis C. Wendell

Organist, conductor, and composer Massimo Nosetti died November 12, 2013, of cancer. He was 53. Born in Alessandria, Italy, he was titular organist of the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist and the Sanctuary of St. Rita in Turin. He taught organ and composition at the conservatory in Cuneo, and led numerous masterclasses in romantic and post-romantic organ literature, especially in Japan, Korea, and the U.S. He conducted both orchestral and choral groups, including Cantus Firmus, the choral group he founded. Nosetti was also a composer, primarily of organ and choral works. A member of the diocesan sacred music commission, Nosetti was active in the Associazione Italiana Santa Cecilia, of which he served as vice president from 1999–2004.

Robert “Bob” Sinclair died August 18, 2013, at the age of 69. Born and raised in Winnsboro, South Carolina, he graduated from Mars Hill College, North Carolina, with a bachelor’s degree in music. He also attended Virginia Commonwealth University and Westminster Choir College, pursuing choral studies. In 1975, he became organist and director of music and fine arts for Greene Memorial United Methodist Church, Roanoke, Virginia, and cofounded the Southwest Virginia Opera Society, later known as Opera Roanoke. He also served as organist and director of music at Unity of Roanoke Valley, St. Thomas Anglican Church, and Williamson Road Church of the Brethren. He served various leadership roles for the Roanoke Chapter of the American Guild of Organists and the Thursday Morning Music Club. Robert “Bob” Sinclair  is survived by his sister, his former wife, three children, a daughter-in-law, and four grandchildren.

As we go to press we have learned of the passing of Marianne Webb, 77, of Carbondale, Illinois, on December 7, 2013 in Marion, Illinois. Webb had a lengthy and distinguished career as a recitalist and professor of music at Southern Illinois University, Carbondale. The February issue of The Diapason will contain more detailed information.

Hellmuth Wolff, Canadian organ builder, died November 20, 2013, after a brief illness. He was 76 years old. Born September 3, 1937, in Zurich, Switzerland, he apprenticed with Metzler & Söhne of Dietikon, Switzerland, before working for Rieger Orgelbau of Schwarzach, Austria, and C. B. Fisk of Gloucester, Massachusetts. In 1963, he immigrated to Canada to work with Casavant Frères, Limitée, designing organs for their new mechanical action division. After working with Karl Wilhelm, he established his own firm in 1968 in Laval, Québec. The firm’s website (www.orgelwolff.com) lists 50 opus numbers of instruments of all sizes, with installations throughout Canada, the United States, and in Switzerland. Hellmuth Wolff is survived by his wife Claudette, son Martin, and daughter Maya and her family. 

Southern Methodist University’s emeritus professor of organ and sacred music Robert Theodore Anderson succumbed to Parkinson’s disease on May 29 in Honolulu, Hawaii. Born in Chicago on October 5, 1934, RTA (as he was affectionately known by hundreds of students and friends) received his early training at the American Conservatory of Music in Chicago. Undergraduate work was accomplished at Illinois Wesleyan University (Bloomington), where he studied organ with Lillian Mecherle McCord. At Union Theological Seminary in New York, he was awarded the degrees Master of Sacred Music (magna cum laude) in 1957 and Doctor of Sacred Music in 1961. He was an organ pupil of Robert Baker and studied composition with Harold Friedell and Seth Bingham.
A Fulbright Grant awarded in 1957 permitted Anderson to study in Frankfurt with Helmut Walcha. During the two years he spent in Germany, he served as guest organist at Walcha’s Dreikoenigskirche, and toured as a recitalist under the auspices of the American Embassy.
Anderson began teaching at SMU’s Meadows School of the Arts in 1960. He retired from the school (because of ill health) in 1996, but continued to teach for several more years to complete the degree programs of his final organ majors. Dr. Anderson was promoted to full professor in 1971, and was subsequently awarded the first Meadows Distinguished Teaching Professorship and named a University Distinguished Professor (SMU’s highest rank).
Two of RTA’s students, Wolfgang Rübsam and George C. Baker, won first places at the prestigious Chartres Organ Competition, and many others repeatedly placed in American contests. Anderson was known for his widely comprehensive organ repertoire and toured extensively as a solo recitalist, for a time under the auspices of the Lilian Murtagh/Karen Macfarlane Concert Management. A Fellow of the American Guild of Organists, Anderson served that organization as National Councillor for Education. He was Dean of the Dallas AGO chapter (1965–67), and served in many other capacities during his years in Dallas. The chapter named its annual recital series in his honor at the time of his retirement.
Anderson’s funeral was held at the Lutheran Church of Honolulu on June 3, with organist Katherine Crosier at the Beckerath organ and RTA’s Union Seminary classmate Nyle Hallman playing harp. His ashes will rest in Chicago, next to those of his parents. SMU is planning a Dallas memorial service, to be held in September.
—Larry Palmer

Howard Clayton died March 5 in Norman, Oklahoma. He was 79. He had earned degrees in education from Emporia State University, Emporia, Kansas, in music from the American Conservatory of Music in Chicago, and a Ph.D. in general administration from the University of Oklahoma. Dr. Clayton held music teaching positions in Illinois before switching his emphasis to library science, which he taught at the University of Oklahoma. He had also held positions at other universities, including Pittsburg State University in Pittsburg, Kansas. He was editor of the educational journal Learning Today from 1968–85. At the time of his death, he was serving as organist at St. John Nepomuk Catholic Church in Yukon, Oklahoma. Howard Clayton is survived by his wife of 59 years, Wilma, daughter Caren Halinkowski, son Curtiss, brother Paul, a granddaughter, and nieces and nephews.

Everett S. Kinsman, age 86, died January 14 in Bethesda, Maryland. He had studied at the Catholic University of America and was an organ student of Conrad Bernier and Paul Callaway. He had served at St. Matthew’s Cathedral and St. Patrick’s Catholic Church in Washington, D.C., and was organist at the Shrine of the Sacred Heart for 22 years, beginning in 1949. His last position was at Our Lady of Mercy Church in Potomac, Maryland.

Mark L. Russakoff died April 12, Easter Sunday, at the age of 58. He had served most recently as director of music ministries at St. Irenaeus Catholic Church in Park Forest, Illinois.
Born in Birmingham, Alabama, September 16, 1950, he studied piano with Samuel and Delores Howard at Birmingham-Southern Conservatory, and organ with Joseph Schreiber at Birmingham-Southern Conservatory and with H. Edward Tibbs at Samford University. He earned a bachelor of music degree at Washington University, St. Louis, studying organ with Robert Danes and Howard Kelsey, and harpsichord with Anne Gallet. He also studied organ with Pierre-Daniel Vidal and harpsichord with Agnès Candau at the Strasbourg Conservatory, and earned master’s and doctoral degrees in organ at Northwestern University as a student of Wolfgang Rübsam and Richard Enright.
Russakoff taught at Chicago Musical College of Roosevelt University and at Thornton Community College. He served as organist/director of handbell ensembles at Flossmoor Community Church, director of music at St. Emeric Catholic Church, Country Club Hills, and was music editor and engraver for ACP Publications in South Holland. He is survived by his wife Cynthia, daughter Rachael, and sister Dale.

Charles Shaffer, 78, died May 2 in Los Angeles. Born in Akron, Ohio on November 17, 1930, his first piano lessons were in the Akron public schools, and he was a boy chorister at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church there. During World War II, Shaffer and his family moved to South Gate, California, where he continued his piano studies and deepened his interest in playing the organ and in organ building. By age thirteen he was playing services at St. Margaret’s Episcopal Church in South Gate. During his high school years, the family moved back to Akron, and Shaffer took his first organ lessons and attended his first meetings of the AGO chapter there.
Shaffer’s first year as an undergraduate was spent at Oberlin Conservatory, where he studied with Fenner Douglass. His studies were interrupted when he was drafted to serve in the U.S. Army during the Korean Conflict. Upon discharge from the service he continued his studies at the University of Redlands (California), where he studied with Dr. Leslie P. Spelman and earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in organ performance.
Charles Shaffer served for eighteen years as organist of First Presbyterian Church in Hollywood, California, and later at First Baptist Church in Pasadena. An active teacher and performer, he served the AGO in various capacities at the local and regional level and several of his articles have appeared in The American Organist.
In the early 1990s he was invited to consult on an organ renovation project at Westwood United Methodist Church in Los Angeles. His role soon evolved from consultant to principal donor and co-designer of what has come to be called the Shaffer Memorial Organ (in memory of his wife of 29 years, Phyllis). The core of the organ was a large pipe instrument installed by Schantz in 1995. The expansion and revision of this instrument occupied Shaffer for the rest of his life. With co-designer Burton K. Tidwell and others, the organ has grown to include 153 ranks of pipes and 83 digital voices located in the chancel and gallery of the church and controlled by a four-manual and a two-manual console. It is one of the largest organ installations in southern California and was heard at the 2004 AGO convention.
Shaffer’s generosity to the church’s music ministry also included the gifts of five pianos (in memory of his parents and his wife’s parents), a digital carillon system, and seed money for an endowment fund to care for the instruments. About the many years of their close collaboration, Burton Tidwell has written of Charles, “His desire to explore possibilities beyond the ordinary, and then see that they could happen, has challenged and expanded my own concepts of organ building. Mr. Shaffer’s vision and generosity have provided all of us with a lasting legacy.” Charles Shaffer is survived by his sister, Lona Abercrombie, three nephews and three nieces.
—Gregory Norton
Minister of Music
Westwood United Methodist Church
Los Angeles, CA

Frank B. Stearns died February 4 at the age of 67 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Born in Brattleboro, Vermont, he received a bachelor of music degree from Westminster Choir College in Princeton, New Jersey, and a master’s of music from the University of Pittsburgh, as well as a master of education degree from Slippery Rock University. He served as an elementary teacher for 28 years, and was director of music for 31 years at Zion’s Reformed United Church of Christ in Greenville, Pennsylvania. For the last ten years he was director of music at Center Presbyterian Church in Slippery Rock. Stearns was active in community musical groups and was also a member of numerous musical and historic organizations, including the American Guild of Organists, the Organ Historical Society, the American Recorder Society, and the Mercer County Historical Society, which named him Volunteer of the Year in 2007. Frank Stearns is survived by his wife of forty years, Patricia, sons Jim and David, and two grandchildren.

Raymond A. Zaporski, age 81, died on February 28 in Roseville, Michigan. He was a music minister-organist for the Archdiocese of Detroit for over 50 years, serving St. Angela Parish Church in Roseville, St. Blase Catholic Community in Sterling Heights, and St. Anne Catholic Community in Warren, Michigan. Raymond Zaporski is survived by his wife, Dorothy, sons Mark, Michael, and Martin, daughter Mary Beth, and their families.

Stefania Björnson Denbow died October 18 in Athens, Ohio. She was 91. Born in Minneota, Minnesota, to Icelandic immigrants, she earned BA and MA degrees from the University of Minnesota, where she studied organ with Arthur Poister, and where she established an organ scholarship a decade ago. A homemaker, organist, scholar of Greek history and art history, and composer, Denbow based a number of her compositions on Icelandic poetry. Her works included Surtsey String Quintet, Four Songs of the Eremite Isle, Magnificat, an anthem based on Jesus, Thou Divine Companion, and Exaltatio, which was premiered by G. Dene Barnard at the First Congregational Church in Columbus, Ohio, later broadcast on Pipedreams, and also performed in Germany by Stephen Tharp. Stefania Denbow served as a church organist, including at the Church of the Good Shepherd and Christ Lutheran Church, in Athens, Ohio. She was a member of the Southeast Ohio AGO chapter, Mu Phi Epsilon, and Phi Alpha Theta. Stefania Denbow is survived by two daughters, a son, six grandchildren, a great-granddaughter, and nieces and nephews.

Constance Hunter Greenwell (Connie) died on February 8. Born in 1927 in Knoxville, Tennessee, she was a long-time member of the Dallas chapter of the American Guild of Organists; she served as membership secretary, and as hospitality chair for the 1994 AGO national convention in Dallas. She was a church organist and her other interests included horses, sailing, and travel. Constance Hunter Greenwell was preceded in death by her husband of 57 years, Gene.

Joel H. Kuznik, 72, died on April 3 at St. Vincent’s Hospital in Manhattan, where he had been since suffering a stroke in late February. Born June 29, 1936 in Waukegan, Illinois, he began his education at the local public school, but then attended Northwestern Prep and College in Watertown, Wisconsin to begin studying for the ministry, later attending Concordia Senior College in Ft. Wayne, Indiana, where he received a BA summa cum laude in 1959.
Realizing that he was called to the ministry of sacred music, he entered Concordia Seminary in St. Louis, Missouri, where he received a Master of Divinity in 1962. Joel often spoke of his Vicarage year at Bethlehem Lutheran Church in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, as one of the best years of his life. During his last year at seminary, he studied at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York, where he received a Master of Music degree in 1963.
Kuznik was ready for a call in 1963, but the seminary offered a year-long fellowship that led to his Master of Sacred Theology in 1969. He was ordained a pastor at Redeemer Lutheran Church in Waukegan, Illinois, in August 1964. He began his career as a professor at Concordia College, St. Paul, Minnesota, where he was assistant professor of religion and conductor of the college choir. In 1966 he received a call from his alma mater, Concordia Senior College, where he became associate professor of music and college organist through 1976. In 1975 he spent a sabbatical leave in Paris, Haarlem, and Cambridge.
When the college closed in 1976, Joel moved to New York. In 1979 he began his career in the insurance industry, retiring in 1995 from MetLife. Most recently, he served as assistant pastor at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, New York City, until August 2008. At the time of his death, he was serving as an assistant priest at St. Luke in the Fields Episcopal Church.
Joel’s love affair with organ music (and Bach in particular) began very early in his life. He would call Bach “The fifth Evangelist,” and once he retired he began to become involved again in organizations and activities that celebrated Bach’s music and life. He attended the Bachfest in Leipzig in 2003, which was the beginning of a flurry of activity centered around anything related to classical music, the organ and most often Bach. He has over 60 articles in print and was working on at least three new articles at the time of his death.
Joel Kuznik was named to the Music Critics Society of North America in May 2005. He was a member of the American Bach Society and served on the board of the Bach Vespers at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in New York. He was a long time member of the American Guild of Organists and served as dean of the Ft. Wayne chapter, on the executive board of the New York City chapter, and on the national financial board. He studied organ with Austin C. Lovelace, Frederick Swann, Ronald Arnatt, David Craighead, Jean Langlais, Marie-Madeleine Duruflé-Chevalier and Anton Heiller.
—Sean M. Scheller

Jacques Mequet Littlefield died January 7 at the age of 59 in Portola Valley, California. A member of the Peninsula AGO chapter, Littlefield received bachelor’s and MBA degrees from Stanford University, where he studied under Stanford University organist Herbert Nanney; a large 45-stop Fisk organ is housed in a custom-built hall attached to his home. He worked for Hewlett-Packard as a manufacturing engineer before focusing solely on building his museum and restoration facility for his collection of more than 150 military vehicles, which included a World War II-era U.S. Army M3A1 wheeled scout car, a Soviet-era Scud missile launcher, and Sherman and Patton tanks. In 1998, Littlefield set up the Military Vehicle Technology Foundation, to manage the collection and help serve the interests of authors, historians, veterans groups, and others. Jacques Littlefield is survived by his wife, Sandy Montenegro Littlefield, five children, his mother, brother, sister, and a grandson.

Jeffrey M. Peterson, 48, of Staunton, Virginia, passed away in Erie, Pennsylvania on January 18. Born in Erie June 9, 1960, he was the son of Ronald and Virginia Buzanowski Peterson, and graduated from Fort LeBeouf High School, Erie, Pennsylvania. He was a pipe maker, first with Rodgers Organ Company in Hillsboro, Oregon, then at Organ Supply Industries in Erie, Pennsylvania. Since 1997 he worked at Taylor & Boody Organ Builders in Staunton, Virginia.
Peterson enjoyed his Harley and was a member of A.B.A.T.E. He was a hunter and enjoyed shooting and playing cards, and belonged to the Moose Club in Virginia. He is survived by his parents, Ronald and Virginia, of Summit Township, two brothers, Chris Peterson of Staunton and Brian Peterson, of Erie; a nephew, Nicholas Peterson and a niece, Laura Peterson.
—John H. Boody

Clyde J. “Cj” Sambach, age 60, died in Brick, New Jersey on February 27. He earned a degree in organ performance from Westminster Choir College; he served as organist-choir director at Holmdel Community Church, and as organist at St. Agnes Roman Catholic Church in Clark, New Jersey. Sambach concertized extensively and was a frequent conference clinician; he developed a special program, The Pipe Organ INformance®, to interest young people in the organ. Using large display posters, organ pipes, musical excerpts, and simple explanations, Sambach provided a basic understanding of the instrument from both the performer’s and the listener’s viewpoints. He also worked at Ocean County College and at Ocean County Vocational and Technical School in their accounting department. Cj Sambach is predeceased by his parents, Warren and Thalia Sambach; he is survived by his brothers Warren and Dean, cousins, and longtime friend Anthony Snyder.