Tag Archives: A. Frank Martin Award Recipient

Robert DuBois Jorgensen (Zeta Epsilon) 1945-2015

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Kappa Kappa Psi joins The University of Akron college band community in mourning the loss of Professor Robert D. Jorgensen, who passed away on July 4, 2015. Director of Bands at The University of Akron for 26 years and as Director of Bands Emeritus since his retirement in 2013, Jorgensen also held the titles of Professor of Music as well as Assistant Director of the School of Music. Since 2006, Mr. Jorgensen has served as musical director/conductor of The Freedom Brass Band of Northeast Ohio.

During his tenure at Akron, the University of Akron Symphonic Band was invited to perform at 11 conferences of the Ohio Music Education Association, the 1992 conference of the College Band Directors National Association (CBDNA); the 1998 CBDNA conference; the 2003 American Bandmasters Association Convention; and the 2004 CBDNA conference. Under his direction, the UA Symphonic Band also performed at Severance Hall in Cleveland in April 2003, followed by a 2008 European tour.

Professor Jorgensen has been widely honored as a music educator and conductor. He received the Outstanding Bandmasters Award from Phi Beta Mu, International Bandmasters Fraternity, in 1999 and the Citation of Excellence Award from the National Band Association in 1981. In 1992, Kappa Kappa Psi honored Professor Jorgensen with the A. Frank Martin Award. Recently, Mr. Jorgensen received unanimous support from his colleagues for the distinction of Professor Emeritus at The University of Akron. He was also honored on December 6, 2013 as a recipient of The University of Akron Honorary Alumni Award.

Mr. Jorgensen has appeared as a guest conductor, clinician, and adjudicator throughout the United States and, in 2009, he was invited to serve as an adjudicator for the St. Patricks Day Parade in Dublin, Ireland. He has held professional memberships in the The American Bandmasters Association, (past president), National Band Association, Mid-American Conference Band Directors Association (past president), College Band Directors National Association, NAfME – The National Association for Music Education, Ohio Music Education Association, and Phi Beta Mu. Mr. Jorgensen was also an honorary member of Kappa Kappa Psi (Zeta Omicron) and Tau Beta Sigma (Epsilon Iota).

Mr. Jorgensen earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Illinois and a master’s degree from Michigan State University. He was euphonium soloist with the United States Army Field Band in Washington, D.C. from 1969-1972. Prior to joining the faculty at The University of Akron in 1987, Professor Jorgensen had served on the faculty at Morehead State University in Morehead, KY and had also served as Director of Bands at Midwestern State University in Wichita Falls, TX.

Professor Jorgensen’s work as a dedicated and devoted musician and educator lives on through the thousands of students he taught and influenced throughout his career.

George N. Parks (Epsilon Nu) 1953-2010

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George Nathan Parks, 57, of Amherst, Massachusetts, passed away on September 16 at Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, following a UMass Marching Band performance.

For 33 years, he served was the Marching Band Director at University of Massachusetts. Besides serving as director of the band known as The Power and Class of New England, Parks was professor of music at UMass. He received the university’s Distinguished Teacher Award and the Chancellor’s Medal for Distinguished Service. He was named an Honorary Alumnus of the University of Massachusetts.

Born May 23, 1953, in Buffalo, NY, George grew up in Newark, Delaware, graduating from Christiana High School. He received a Bachelor of Science degree in Music Education from West Chester University, PA, and a Master of Music in Tuba Performance from Northwestern University in Evanston, IL. George began teaching at UMass in 1977, and began the George N. Parks Drum Major Academy the following summer. In 1979, Thom Hannum joined George for a legendary band partnership that lasted 31 years.

A tireless fund-raiser, Parks was the driving force behind the $5.7 million Minuteman Marching Band Building, currently under construction. The new building is named in his honor.

George’s work in music and leadership has inspired thousands of high school and college students to find the best in themselves. Some of his recent students were the children of his first students at the University.

George was a devoted husband and father, who enjoyed watching his son Michael’s hockey games and daughter Kathryn’s equestrian pursuits. George often came to Springfield Central High School to support wife Jeanne and her choral students. Among his favorite things were family trips to Disney World (where he would often run into DMA students), golfing, playing volleyball with the Band staff, watching movies, and choosing music for his favorite meal, spaghetti with meat sauce. He loved to have a houseful of people playing Axis and Allies. George was a communicant of the First Baptist Church of Amherst, where he often played tuba and sang in the choir.

George is survived by his wife of 31 years, Jeanne (nee Clayton), daughter, Kathryn, son, Michael, his mother, Vesta Parks and brother Patrick, of Newark, DE, sisters and brothers-in-law Barbara and Ed Firchak of Ocean City, MD, Pamela and Dan Kopec of Louisiana, brother and sister-in-law Jon and Lorie Parks of Delaware, and his in-laws, Harvey and Barbara Clayton of Jensen Beach, FL, and brother-in-law Robert Clayton of Celebration, FL. He will be greatly missed by his many nieces, nephews, close friends, 390 present “bandos,” and thousands of UMass band and DMA alum. George was pre-deceased by his father, Norman Parks.