PIANIST DIES OF STROKE

His Students Won Many Awards

Paul died of an apparent stroke Wednesday morning. He complained of not feeling well after a Music Faculty Gala concert Tuesday evening, was taken to Huntsville Memorial Hospital and then to St. Luke's Hospital in Houston. He was 73.

Funeral services are scheduled for 11 a.m. Friday at First United Methodist Church, with burial to follow at the Mayes Addition of Oakwood Cemetery. The family will receive friends from 6-8 p.m. Thursday at Huntsville Funeral Home.

Since coming to Huntsville, Paul's performance career included concerts throughout Texas, Mississippi, New Mexico, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Mexico. His students received national recognition for their winning performances in numerous competitions.

Additionally, Paul was in great demand as an adjudicator for festivals and contests, and presented many workshops on the various aspects of teaching and performing.

In 1982 Paul received the prestigious Teacher of the Year Award from the Texas Music Teachers Association. In 1985 he was recognized by the Music Teachers National Association with a Master Teacher in Piano Award.

Paul earned bachelor's and master's degrees from the Manhattan School of Music in New York City and the Doctor of Musical Arts degree in performance from the Eastman School of Music. He completed post-graduate study at the Academy of Music in Vienna, Austria. Among the noted teachers with whom he studied were Doris Zaslavsky, Harold Bauer and Jose Enchaniz.

Paul also taught at Park College and National College in Kansas City, Missouri, Central College in Fayette Missouri, and Tennessee Tech University in Cookeville, Tennessee.

Among awards won by his students were the Baldwin Award (three times), the Yamaha Mason Hamlin Award (seven times), and the Wurlitzer Award (five times). As a result of their winning in concerto competitions, his students appeared with all the major symphony orchestras in Texas.

In April, 1991, faculty, friends and alumni of Sam Houston State University established the John Paul Endowed Piano Scholarship in his honor. The scholarship is awarded annually by the piano faculty to an outstanding undergraduate or graduate piano performance student at the university.

Media Contact: Frank Krystyniak
Sept. 9, 1998
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