IN MEMORIAM . . . ROBERT W. DEAN
The faculty, staff, and students of the School of Music are deeply saddened to report that on September 29, 1994, Mr. Robert W. Dean died from complications following surgery. Mr. Dean, at the age of 78, was in his fifteenth year as supervisor of instrumental music student teachers and professor of instrumental music methods and band administration. He also served as conductor of the UNI Wind Symphony for two years prior to taking a partial retirement at the close of the 1981-1982 school year. Prior to his appointment at UNI, Bob served as director of bands in Iowa high schools at Mason City, Spencer, and Belle Plaine, and at the Elko County High School in Wells, Nevada, a career spanning forty-two years. He received his bachelor of music degree from Kearney State Teachers College, Kearney, and received his master's degree from Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois.
He also served in the 32nd Special Service Company, Infantry, during World War II. Mr. Dean was a charter member and past president of the American School Band Directors Association, a member of the executive board of that association for nine years, a past president of the Iowa Bandmasters Association, a member of the American Bandmasters Association, and was chairman of the Board and Executive officer for the ASBDA National High School Band Contest/Festival. Mr. Dean was an education liaison officer for the American School Band Directors Association and represented this organization at the national conventions of the American Association of School Administrators and the National Association of the Secondary School Principals.
He received: the ASBDA Edwin Frank Goldman Award for distinguished service to bands and band music at state and national levels; the National Mac Award; the Keamey, Nebraska State College Distinguished Service Award; the Iowa Bandmasters Association K. L. Award for Distinguished Band Conductors; the National Band Association Citation for Excellence; the Midwest National Band Clinic Medal of Honor; the University of Northern Iowa School of Music Distinguished Service Award; the ASBDA Hawaiian Bandmasters Association Distinguished Service Award; and the National Catholic Bandmasters Association President's Award for Outstanding Contributions to the work of the NCBA.
Mr. Dean is survived by his wife of fifty-three years, Dorothea, two daughters (UNI alumni) Linda Wadsworth of Whitewater, Wisconsin and Susan D. Chabot of Apple Valley, Minnesota; and two grandchildren. Memorials may be directed to the Robert W. Dean Music Scholarship Fund at UNI.
(From an undated School of Music statement)