Dr. Homer Rudolf
Mar 10, 1938Jan 08, 2018
Obituary message
Rudolf, Homer, died in Richmond, Virginia on January 8, 2018 at the age of 79. Dr. Rudolf was one of eight children born to Pauline and Daniel Rudolf in Wishek, North Dakota. He earned his B.A. in music education from Jamestown College, his M.A. in music history and literature from the University of Southern California, and his Ph.D. in musicology from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The passion of his life was music, which he shared with students and faculty from his first teaching job as a public-school music teacher in a small North Dakota town through a long tenure at the University of Richmond where he taught courses in music history and musicology and served as musical director for numerous musicals produced by University Players, in addition to serving as chair of the Department of Music. He also contributed to the University community through proposals for curricular updates, including the fine arts requirement and the development of minor concentrations. In addition, Dr. Rudolf served the greater Richmond community through his planning and coordination of numerous musical concerts and direction of drama festivals and productions in the region. In 2000 he retired as professor of music, Emeritus. He was an avid outdoorsman who spent many summers at Yellowstone National Park volunteering for Sierra Club projects, and he was actively involved in the University of Richmond Outdoor Adventure and Recreation Program. Drawing on his family heritage, he researched and published numerous works on the history of Germans living in Russia and was a major contributor to the Germans from Russia Heritage Collection at the University of North Dakota. He had an adventurous soul which led him to meet many people who became good friends. Homer Rudolf was predeceased by his parents and his sister, Ardella. He is survived by his sisters, Volveriene and Paulette, his brothers, Lincoln, Wayne, McLoyd, and Farrell, a host of nieces and nephews, friends and colleagues. A service to celebrate the life of Homer Rudolf will be scheduled at a later date.
My sympathy goes to the Rudolph family on the loss of your brother, Uncle and friend.I graduated with Homer in 1956 from Wishek High School, In 1958 Homer sang at our wedding. Over the years we would see him at the Germans from Russia conferences. Always had a nice long chat with him. Going through a picture album the other day ran across a picture of Homer singing at our wedding then another where Homer, Ron Vossler and I had a picture taken at a conference of the “Wishek Gang” Arva Dell (Gruebele) JobLake Stevens, Wa
Homer graceously volunteered his time and talent to teach many years at The Shepherd Center. I first joined The Shepherd Center when my wife said someone is going to teach a class on early jazz, that was Homer and I never missed his classes for many years aftrewards.Charley Webber
He was a good friend and a great colleague. We will miss him.