In Memoriam: Russell Mathis (ACDA National President 1974-1977)

G. Russell Mathis, a professor of music at the University of Oklahoma for nearly 40 years, passed from this life on Sept. 23 after a brief illness. He was 88.

 

Appointed to the OU faculty in 1962 as director of choral activities, he was a key advocate for the arts throughout his tenure at the university, which included serving as chair of the voice division (1976-1990), as assistant vice provost for special academic programs and summer session (1969-1973) and as director of music theater (1987-1990).

 

Mathis’ career also included many contributions and awards as a national and international professor, conductor, composer, arranger, adjudicator, clinician, author and mentor.

 

“Russ was knowledgeable in all forms of music, both classical and popular, and he was always professional in all the times we worked together,” said Nat Eek, former OU dean of fine arts.

 

Eek also said Mathis had “a delightful wry sense of humor that could ease tensions and move us forward in good cheer.”

Mathis led numerous OU choirs, including organizing and directing the OU Concert Choir in the first Viennese Symposium as well as directing the men’s glee club in performance at the 1964 World’s Fair.
 
He also served as a choral judge and conductor in 39 states, Europe, South America and Asia, and was choirmaster of the First Presbyterian Church in Norman for more than 20 years.

 

His global service included People-to-People American Youth Chorale tours to Japan, China, Taiwan and Hong Kong in 1983 and 1984, and being elected as a founding member of both the Inter-American Choral Association in Venezuela and the Choral Federation of South America.

 

National president of the American Choral Directors Association from 1974 to 1977, he was named Outstanding Choral Musician in Oklahoma in 1976.

 

Mathis had a particular fondness for musical theater, providing direction for numerous shows during his tenure.

“As music director of the University Theatre, Russell was a bridge builder between students and faculty before there was a musical theatre program, department or school,” said Paul Christman, director of OU’s Weitzenhoffer School of Musical Theatre. “He helped lay the foundation for the success of present day vocal, choral, opera and musical theater programs at OU.”

 

Following his retirement in 1990, he served as music director of the Southwest Repertory Theatre in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and returned numerous times to teach voice at the OU School of Music Voice Department .
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Born in Hennepin, Illinois, in 1926, to George Mathis, a farmer, and his wife, Amy, the longtime OU professor received his bachelor’s degree in music from Illinois Wesleyan University in 1947.

 

He earned his master’s in music education from the University of Illinois in 1952, followed by a doctorate of education in 1962.

In 1947 he married Barbara Browns, who preceded him in death in 2009. The couple moved to Norman, Oklahoma, where they raised two sons, Jon Mathis of Kensington, Maryland, and Rob Mathis and his wife, Sheila, of Charlottesville, Virginia.

 

In addition to his two children and daughter-in law, he is survived by a brother, Edward J. Mathis of Henry, Illinois, two grandchildren, Julia and Danny Mathis, of Kensington, Maryland, and numerous nieces and nephews.

A memorial service will be held on Oct. 17, 2014 at 1 p.m. at McFarlin Methodist Church.

 

In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made to the OU Foundation, earmarked for the Russell Mathis Scholarship Fund, and sent to: A. Max Weitzenhoffer School of Musical Theatre, The University of Oklahoma, 840 Asp Avenue, Carpenter Hall, Room 104, Norman, OK, 73019.