Obituaries

Edward M. Murray, professor of music theory as well as conductor and pianist, died Oct. 18 in New York City, where he was born. He was 62.

Murray arrived at Cornell's Department of Music in 1975 following Karel Husa as conductor of the Cornell Symphony Orchestra. He received his bachelor's degree in history from Harvard University and his Ph.D. in music theory from Yale University. Murray also held a graduate degree in conducting from the Mannes College of Music and trained for the podium under such teachers Pierre Monteux, Pierre Boulez and Walter Susskind. A brilliant musical scholar, Murray's training in music theory included work with Carl Schachter and Allen Forte.

Murray was a versatile musician, proficient both as conductor and pianist in a variety of idioms ranging from classical to modern music to jazz, and throughout his Cornell career those wide interests were reflected in a variety of venues both on campus and in the Ithaca community. Murray conducted the Cornell Symphony Orchestra, served as director of the Cornell Musica Nova contemporary music series and for more than 20 years had been musical director for the Ithaca Opera Association, and he was a regular performer with the Syracuse Society for New Music. In 1992, Murray led the Cornell Symphony Orchestra and Chorale in a performance at Lincoln Center for the Mozart Bicentennial Celebration.

Murray was a champion of new musical works and conducted many premieres of pieces by Steven Stucky, Augusta Read Thomas and Andrew Waggoner, among many others. Among the ensembles Murray conducted are the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, the DaCapo Chamber Players and the Cayuga Chamber Orchestra. Prior to arriving at Cornell, he served as director of the Plainfield New Jersey Symphony Orchestra.

His work as a conductor and pianist is recorded on several labels, including Columbia, Nonesuch and Spectrum.

A talented jazz pianist, Murray had a love of American standards that led to a series of popular two-piano recitals with pianist David Borden, director of Cornell's digital music program. Four compact disc recordings of those concerts were made and are available.

"I will miss giving those performances with Ed; we had a great time in rehearsal and at the concerts," said Borden. "The entire department will miss him."

A 1995 classical cabaret concert in Barnes Hall with soprano Kathryn Fields was a typical example of Murray's musical tastes. It featured works by Kurt Weill, Leonard Bernstein and William Bolcom, a Cole Porter rarity titled "After You, Who?" as well as Murray's arrangement of Irving Berlin's "Top Hat, White Tie and Tails."

In addition to his love of music, Murray was an avid student of architecture, particularly European architecture from 800 to 1760.

In a tribute to Murray, the Cornell Symphony Orchestra dedicated its Saturday, Oct. 21, concert to his memory.

Murray is survived by his wife, Myra Malkin, and daughter, Nadya Murray. Memorial services will be private. However, the Cornell music department is planning a tribute to Murray in November.

Perry W. Gilbert, the marine biologist who taught the public not to fear 90 percent of shark species while respectfully sharing the seas with the others, died of heart failure Oct. 15 at home in Siesta Key, Fla. He was 87.

The professor of neurobiology and behavior emeritus joined the Cornell faculty in 1943, after earning the Ph.D. here in 1940, and retired in 1978. He also was the director of Florida's Mote Marine Laboratory from 1967 to 1978.

Gilbert was the chair of the American Institute of Biological Sciences' Shark Research Panel, beginning in 1957, and in 1970 launched a study for the Office of Naval Research to help seamen and fliers survive in shark-infested waters. His comprehensive study of shark behavior and the first-ever international shark-attack file showed which sharks are relatively harmless and how to behave around the rest.

He reported that fewer than 10 percent of the 350 shark species are what he came to call "the bad actors," the truly dangerous ones, but that they also are of the most scientifically interesting. Gilbert developed techniques for anesthetizing large sharks that made hands-on research safe for scientists and humane for the animals. He frequently lectured and wrote under the title, "The Shark: Barbarian and Benefactor," and would emphasize that the average person was more likely to die from a bee sting than a shark bite.

One of Gilbert's last Ph.D. students at Cornell, former director of Shoals Marine Laboratory John B. Heiser, remembers: "His teaching was legendary," and that, as a lecturer in comparative anatomy, Gilbert would astound students with his manual and mental dexterity. Hands and colored chalk flying, a well-coordinated Gilbert could simultaneously draw the right and left views of each animal's systems.

He is survived by his wife, Claire; four sons, Stephen and Christopher, both of Ithaca, and John and Philip, both of Sarasota; and three daughters, Ann G. McDonald of Arlington, Va., Mary G. Baurle of Dryden, and Lois Gilbert of Santa Fe.

A celebration of Gilbert's life will be held at Mote Marine Laboratory at a later date. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Gilbert Chair for Shark Research, Mote Marine Foundation,1600 Ken Thompson Parkway, Sarasota, Fla. 34236.