Fall River, MA, William Edgar Curtis (Edgar), 97, of Adams House (The Home), died peacefully on Sunday, October 23rd, 2011. Born in Aberdeen, Scotland on March 11th, 1914, he was a son of Wm. A. Curtis, Rev. Princ., School of Divinity, New College, University of Edinburgh, Scotland, and Florence Malseed Curtis, of Londonderry, Ireland.
Edgar grew up in Edinburgh and studied Philosophy and Music at the University of Edinburgh. He then studied piano and conducting with Rudolph Serkin and Fritz Busch in Europe and came to the United States in 1940. Here he studied conducting with Serge Koussevitzky at Tanglewood and Fritz Reiner at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. In 1942 he founded the Curtis String Orchestra in Boston. From 1944–1946 he was an instructor and conductor at the US Navy School of Music in Washington DC. He was appointed conductor of the Albany Symphony Orchestra in 1948 which he directed until 1967. He also led the Tri-City Symphony and the Northeastern New York Philharmonic orchestras during that time. Edgar was chairman of the Music Department at Union College in Schenectady NY from 1955 to 1972. He was a composer as well. He oversaw the restoration of organs at Madison Avenue Presbyterian Church in Albany and the chapel at Union College.
Pre-deceased by his wife, Doris Gray (Schauffler) Curtis on June 7th, 2007, Edgar is survived by their three children, Michael G. of Corinth VT, Julie M. of Westport MA, and Annie Chittenden of Madison CT, as well as their grandchildren, Mark Reed and Logan Chittenden, and a great-grandchild, Rachel Reed.
There will be a family memorial service at a date to be determined.
In lieu of flowers, memorial donations can be made to: Adams House, 1168 Highland Ave., Fall River, MA 02720.