Donald Chittum

Donald Chittum

Professor Emeritus of the University of the Arts, was a long-time resident of Philadelphia who was born in Atlantic City, NJ on August 3, 1930 and passed away quietly on July 29, 2020. After attending high school, he entered the Philadelphia Conservatory of Music to study theory and composition and attended Temple University to study liberal arts and the humanities. During the Korean War, Dr. Chittum was federalized from the New Jersey National Guard and served as a non-commissioned cadre member and enlisted band conductor in several army bands in Arkansas, Louisiana, and Texas, being discharged with the rank Master Sergeant. Upon returning to his musical studies he earned the Bachelor's, Master's and Doctoral Degrees from the Philadelphia Conservatory, where his principal teachers were Jon Carlin, Katherine Grube, Mehli Mehte, and Vincent Persichetti. He has served as the President of the Pennsylvania Music Teachers Association. In the Music Teachers National Association, he has held the offices of National Chairman for Composition and Theory and President of the Eastern Division. In 1969 he began a long association with the Pennsylvania Governors School of the Arts (PGSA), a pilot program funded by the John D. Rockefeller III Foundation, ultimately retiring as Director Emeritus in 1996. He has also served as a music consultant and advisor to the Pennsylvania Council for Excellence in Education, and a faculty member of the Hellenic-American Union in Athens, Greece. He was also a consultant and advisor to the Hellenic-American University in Athens, and a former president and current member of the Pennsylvania Council for Excellence in Education. He has written over fifty articles, reviews and criticisms published in leading North and South American, British, Greek, and German publications. His article "The Triple Fugue in Berg's Wozzeck", originally published in the British Music Review, was cited as the year's best worldwide article on operatic analysis by the German publisher WBG. Previously married to his deceased first wife Joan G. Renn, and his second wife the deceased composer Margaret Garwood, he is survived by his son, Donald, Jr., his daughter-in-law Ellen, and his two grandsons, Brian and Christopher (and his wife Susie), who reside in Oakhurst, New Jersey.

Dr. Chittum is also survived by countless friends, colleagues and former students. Funeral Services are private. www.goldsteinsfuneral.com.