“A. Margaret Bok, 98, a stalwart matriarch of the Curtis Institute of Music and one of its major links to the family that founded the elite music conservatory on Rittenhouse Square, died Saturday, Oct. 27, at her home in Rockport, Maine,” writes Peter Dobrin in Monday’s (11/5) Philadelphia Inquirer. “Though mostly a behind-the-scenes presence at the school, Mrs. Bok, known as ‘Stormy,’ stepped into leadership positions at Curtis at critical times…. She is best remembered, though, for her many decades as a loyal supporter of the small school started by her mother-in-law, Mary Louise Curtis Bok, in 1924.… It was during her most active period at Curtis that it shifted from being an inward-looking institution … to the public to one that routinely sends its students—and fund-raisers—to concert halls around the world. She very much enjoyed talking about the future of the school, said Curtis president and CEO Roberto Díaz…. She joined the board of the Curtis Institute in 1962, and her involvement grew…. She [endowed] the A. Margaret Bok Chair in Double Bass Studies as well as the Mrs. Cary William Bok Fellowship.”
Posted November 8, 2018
