Mark Peyko remembers Bob Fitzer

Up next in our series of interviews about Bob Fitzer, Metro Monthly publisher Mark Peyko remembers their friendship, starting back in 1991.

If you haven’t visited Metro Monthly online, check out the videos, vintage home photos, downtown photographs and store!

And if you didn’t catch it in the first interview post, here’s the link to Mark’s interviews with Bob.

[Please forgive the soft background chatter. We found the quietest corner we could, but there were many people over that night, and it was bound to bleed over into the mix.]

This just in…

Public memorial concert for Robert D. Fitzer set for Friday, July 27

A public memorial concert celebrating the life of Robert D. Fitzer will occur at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, July 27 at the Ford Auditorium in the DeYor Performing Arts Center, located at 260 W. Federal St. in downtown Youngstown.

Fitzer, an instructor of clarinet at Youngstown State University’s Dana School of Music, died on May 16 following an eight-month battle with pancreatic cancer.

The program is open to the community and will include musical performances, remembrances and a slide presentation recounting Fitzer’s life. In addition, Fitzer¹s uncle, Vincent Severino of Rancho Santa Fe, Calif., will discuss the recently established Fitzer Family Scholarship in Music. The July 27 event will be the first in a series of annual concert fund-raisers for the scholarship fund.

Fitzer was born in Youngstown, Ohio on July 27, 1956 to James Robert Fitzer and Dolores Elvira (Severino) Fitzer, who were Dana School of Music faculty members.

Fitzer was widely known in Youngstown for his political and community activism. He served on the faculty of the Dana School of Music since 1996 and was director of the Clarinet Studies program.

Fitzer began musical studies with pianist Gene Rush (Tennessee State University) and with pianist Harold Danko (Eastman School of Music) and began clarinet studies at age 10 with Carl Marks Jr. He graduated from Northwestern University with a bachelor of arts in performance. Fitzer undertook additional academic and performance training at the American Institute of Musical Studies in Graz, Austria and at the International Festival-Institute in Round Top, Texas. He studied with Chicago Symphony Orchestra clarinetists Clark Brody and Larry Combs.

From 1987 to 1994 Fitzer was a feature writer and senior consultant for Speed of Sound magazine. He was a founding member of Easy Street Productions’ Little Big Band and served as co-host and producer of the WYSU-FM political radio show “Commentary Café” from 1995 to 2001.

Aside from his work as a musician and educator, Fitzer was active in community and civic affairs. He was president of the Citizens’ League of Greater Youngstown; served as a Mahoning County Democratic Party Executive Committee member; and was a chairman of the Wick Park Model Neighborhood Project.

Contact: Vincent Severino, Rancho Santa Fe, Calif. 702-501-5082.

Mark C. Peyko
Publisher
The Metro Monthly

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