Melvyn Douglas Goldfinger minored in trombone at Rutgers. Back in the sixties. Paul Goldfinger photo.
Brother Mel had the same roots as I. Our apartment in Rutherford was filled with music thanks to our mom. We shared a bedroom until I went off to med school. He became a neuroscientist PhD and a professor of cell biology, but he practiced his ‘bone every night.
Before he left us last week in Ohio, he had been playing six instruments in at least 4 ensembles including a symphony orchestra in Cincinnati. He loved it all: church music for Christmas, pit bands for traveling Broadway shows, chamber music with a string quartet, and he was a regular with the Miami Valley Symphony Orchestra.
He was also a union leader, helping to start a union for the faculty of Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio.
He was known for his sense of humor which first surfaced when he was a kid. The first time I brought 16 year old Eileen home to meet the folks, he stayed upstairs and tossed a note down to her. It said, “Does you mother know you’re here? Go home. ”
Years later, when he was living in Dayton I would call him and say, “Hey Mel–are you datin’?” Then he got married and that joke was over.
The lesson to be learned from Mel is to encourage your kids to participate in music and to never give it up. Music provides a lifetime of rewards.
Tapiola Sinfonietta. “Trombone Concerto in B flat Major. Andante Contabile” by Rimsky-Korsakov.
Paul Goldfinger. Blogfinger.net