Richard Bilderbach Hervig

HERVIG, BILDERBACH, LOKKE, TENBROEK, ROSS

Posted By: Tara (email)
Date: 9/8/2010 at 12:58:40

Richard Bilderbach Hervig, 92, passed away peacefully at home on September 6, 2010, surrounded by his family. He was born to O. Edgar and Ida Hervig on November 24, 1917 in Story City, Iowa. Memorial Services will be held at a later date. Lensing Funeral Service is assisting with arrangements.
He spent his youth in Baltic, South Dakota, attended Augustana College in Sioux Falls and graduated in 1939 with a degree in English. After teaching high school, he started graduate school in music at the University of Iowa, receiving his MA in 1941. That year he married the love of his life, Verna Lokke, from Vermillion, SD, who passed away in 1988.
Progress on his dissertation was interrupted during World War II (for which he was occupied overseas as an arranger and military bandleader) so he received his PhD in 1947 under Philip Greeley Clapp, who recognized in the young composer an energetic sense of inquiry, strong work ethic and a powerful motivation. He taught at Long Beach State College until 1954, and then returned to teach at the University of Iowa where he remained until 1987. During the following thirteen years he taught at the Juilliard School in Manhattan before retiring at age 82.
He had many notable accomplishments, including obtaining a grant from the Rockefeller Foundation in 1965 to found the nationally recognized Center for New Music at Iowa, advising graduate students, composing innovative music that was performed across the country, and providing support and advice for young composers.
He was very open-minded and an avid learner: as a youth, he taught himself to swim simply by using the Boy Scout Handbook, at age 50, he took courses in computer programming. Throughout his career he enjoyed the challenge of teaching new courses. He was social, young-thinking, ethical, respected originality, and was very well-liked by students, colleagues, and his extended family. He is survived by his four children, Kristi, Jonna, Richard L., and Marit Hervig, and by five grandchildren (Eric and Jens Tenbroek, Erica and Troy Hervig, and Oriana Ross).
Donations in his memory can be made to: The Richard B. and Verna L. Hervig Scholarship Fund at the Preucil School of Music, 524 N. Johnson Street, Iowa City, IA 52245 (http://www.preucil.org).