Robert Arthur Kavelman

Robert Arthur Kavelman ("Bob"), died on Wednesday, January 19, 2022, at the Ascension Living, Borgess Place Nursing Home in Kalamazoo, three months shy of his 97th birthday. He was born on April 20, 1925, in Detroit, Michigan, the only child of Arthur and Kathryn Kavelman.

Bob sang in his Lutheran Church Boys Choir and attended Detroit's Cass Tech High School. Gifted in music, he had perfect pitch and liked to surprise people when he showed them how he could sight read and sing any of the four parts of a church hymn. As a teenager he also played in swing dance bands.

In 1943 Bob enlisted in the Army Airforce (AAF, now called the Air Force), where he played in the Air Force Jazz Band. At the time, its conductor had recruited the finest orchestral musicians coupled with the best in swing dance band musicians. Bob was among the AAF's youngest band members and enjoyed performing for the troops and learning about radio transmission. The day that he was due to head to Germany in a bomber plane, the war ended.

Following his World War II service, Bob studied music at Western Michigan University. During his college years he played trombone in the Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra, where he met his future wife, cellist Elizabeth Ann Arink ("Billie"), who predeceased him in 2020 as they were approaching their 71st wedding anniversary. He is survived by two daughters, Holly Barnhart of Kalamazoo, and Buff Kavelman of New York.

Bob continued his education and received double Masters' degrees in music history and performance at the University of Michigan, where later went on to earn his Ed.D. Bob was very proud to have been one of the chief assistants to the U of M marching band leader, William Revelli, and to play trombone in the band at all the football games. He was a devoted fan of all U of M sports as well as the Detroit Tigers.

Of all the professional roles in his life, Bob most loved his work as a jazz and classical musician, conductor, music historian and educator, from his first job as music director in Goodrich, Michigan, to directing choral, band and orchestral programs in San Diego, California and Livonia, Michigan. Many of his students stayed in touch with him for decades and credited him for inspiring their own musical careers. His most famous student was Frank Zappa, who was in one of Bob's orchestras at the Mission Bay High School in San Diego and met with him every week to discuss music theory and their favorite songs. Bob also played jazz trombone with the Brubeck family in Southern California.

With the goal of pursuing a better-paying career to support a new family, briefly Bob explored a career as an aircraft designer. In the 1950s this industry was booming in California and recruited new designers based on an aptitude test. Bob scored higher than the engineers who took the test with him, so he was hired. After a few years he realized that he missed his work as an educator and returned to it.

In the 1960s, Bob joined the founding team of educators who launched the renowned California community college system that became a model across the country. He was based at Foothill College in Los Altos, Hills California, regarded as one of the most beautiful and successful community colleges in the United States. While working full-time at Foothill as a counselor to first-generation college students, Bob completed his dissertation to earn his Ed.D. at Michigan. Every summer during that time the family drove together back and forth across the country between California and Michigan so he could meet with his advisors.
After completing his doctorate, Bob became a dean of students and helped launch community colleges at Burlington County, New Jersey and Lorain County, Ohio. President Obama held a Town Hall meeting on the campus of Lorain County Community College in 2010, citing it as a model for the nation. Bob also worked as a college counselor and music professor at Nazareth and Mercy Colleges in Michigan.

Throughout his long life, Bob fought for social justice. He believed in helping others and doing what he could to make the world a better place. He engaged actively in civic affairs as a volunteer and inspired his family to do the same. He valued his membership in The Kiwanis Club of Kalamazoo and served on the Friends of the Kalamazoo Public Library Board. He loved life, learning, people and sharing conversations about his passions, which included The Bible, ancient history, Bach, his students, his beloved black walnut tree, and all of life's adventures.

Private family services will be held at Langeland Family Funeral Homes when public health guidelines make it safer to do so. Memorial donations may be made to The National Ataxia Foundation or the Kalamazoo Symphony.