Edward Hausman
Edward Hausman, a member of the Music Department faculty for more than 30 years, died Jan. 10, 2013, as a result of injuries sustained in a car accident. He was 87.
Born Dec. 19, 1925, in Slatington, Pa., Ed was a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, where he earned an A.B. degree in chemistry and pursued pre-med studies. But he received a full scholarship to the Juilliard School of Music, and there he earned B.S. and M.S. degrees in piano performance as well as the school鈥檚 Frank Damrosch Prize for the highest rating in the graduating class of 1949 and George Schirmer Prize for continued graduate study in 1950.
Ed鈥檚 first teaching assignment was at Colorado Women鈥檚 College in Denver. He then spent three seasons with the renowned First Piano Quartet of New York City, touring the United States for several years, performing with the Detroit Symphony the Boston Pops, and others. He joined Skidmore in 1957 and taught piano, music theory, music history, and non-Western music, and pursued a rich performance schedule that included concerts at Carnegie Recital Hall in 1956 and 1984, as well as multiple recitals at Skidmore and with numerous regional orchestras.
A New York Times review of his first Carnegie performance called Ed 鈥渁 gifted young American pianist.鈥�
Isabelle Williams, professor emerita of music, considered Ed to be 鈥渙ne of a kind, and a wonderful colleague. He was so intelligent, and that intelligence showed in his everyday contacts with people, his musical ability, and his piano performances.鈥� She noted, 鈥淓d had a wry sense of humor and such great talent. He will be greatly missed.鈥�
Vocalist Nancy Jo Davidsen, a member of the department鈥檚 faculty, performed many times with Ed as her accompanist. She said, 鈥淓d was very comfortable accompanying colleagues and friends. He was such a sympathetic and understanding collaborator. I could rely on him; he understood what I was trying to do.鈥� They would practice often, she recalled: 鈥淗e and I would spend days and hours refining the music so that it was like having another part of me performing.鈥�
Practicing was the theme of the Moseley Faculty Research Lecture that Ed delivered in 1974. Titled 鈥淲ho Says Practice Makes Perfect?鈥� the event featured a lecture and recital.
He retired from Skidmore in 1988 as a professor of music.
Survivors include two sons, Eric of Saratoga Springs and Dale of Great Falls, Va., and three grandchildren.