Deceased
Francois Leduc was the President of the French music publishing company Editions Alphonse Leduc, which has been in his family since it was first established in 1841. The family musical origins began in Arnay-le-Duc in Burgundy and its first musician, Antoine Girard. Alphonse Leduc, teacher,...
Ernest Farmer had a long and successful career at Shawnee Press in Pennsylvania before he and his wife, music editor Marjorie, formed Wide World Music together in 1980. Ernie’s involvement in the music publishing industry began right after World War II when he was hired by Shawnee Press to oversee...
Joe Hume was a veteran school band director before he opened Hume Music located in Kansas. His love of school bands continued as a retailer and as such he established new bands and expanded several other smaller school bands. Joe saw the importance of being a strong supporter of the school band...
Joe Guth’s career in the music products industry began with a short stint with Selmer and as a former band director he brought a great perspective to selling instruments to school music programs. He later had a storied 25-year career at Gemeinhart Flutes in Elkhart, IN, where he furthered his...
Dale Hyatt was hired by Leo Fender while the iconic guitar builder was still a radio repairman in Fullerton, CA. The year was 1948. Dale recalled all of the major landmarks that helped establish the development of the Stratocaster and the birth of rock and roll. Dale remained with Leo as he...
Tommy Moore was introduced to the music industry by his father, Woods Moore, who operated Alt’s Music store in Fort Worth, TX. After earning a degree in finance, Tommy returned to the store upon his father’s request to investigate other aspects of the music industry that might interest him. Tommy...
Carol Jones-Zadel introduced new organs and keyboard products to music dealers around the world for over 50 years. Her sharp technical abilities made her a favorite with manufacturers and her warm, down-to-Earth personality made her among the most requested product artists in the industry. After...
Bob Hale had a long and successful career as an engineer and was able to devote his retirement time to his passion for music as a docent at the NAMM Foundation’s Museum of Making Music in Carlsbad, CA. Bob soon became the museum expert on the electronic music displays and began training new...
Dee Vinton was known as Dancin’ Dee around the NAMM Foundation’s Museum of Making Music where she was a noted docent since the early 2000’s. Dee was fond of telling her tour groups that her mother was a dime-a-dance girl in the heyday of the 1920’s dance craze. After retiring from a successful...
Don Murphy joined the NAMM Foundation’s Museum of Making Music volunteer team as a retiree in 2003 and soon became one of the museum’s most requested docents. Don pioneered the community outreach programs with a series of speaker presentations, which encouraged a host of visitors, several of which...