ROGER FOLSTROM: 1934-2011

In his 28 years in the music department, Roger Folstrom not only inspired his students to learn — he inspired them to teach.

"He was wonderful," said Folstrom's wife of 47 years, Jeanne. "He loved music. His life was music, his family and his church."

Folstrom, 77, a retired university music education professor who conducted the University Chorale for 20 years, died of a bone-marrow disease in his Silver Spring home on Oct. 17. Those who knew him said he will always be remembered for the knowledge and passion for music he imparted onto the hundreds of music teachers and choir members he mentored.

"He had just such an impression on me at such a young age," said 1985 university alumna Maria Forlenza, who was a four-year member of the University Chorale under Folstrom's direction and now teaches voice and directs her church choir in Boulder, Co. 

"I just remember his artistry in picking the whole repertoire and his passion, and how much he loved great choral music and how much he really tried to draw the best efforts out of us," Forlenza said. "I was motivated to do so out of his obvious passion."

Born Feb. 14, 1934 in Fargo, N.D., Folstrom received music education and master of music degrees from the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minn., and Northwestern University. After teaching at the University of Wisconsin-Madison for eight years, Folstrom became chairman of its music education department in 1974 and stayed until he retired in 2002.

Retired university music librarian Bruce Wilson, who worked as a music professor under Folstrom for almost 30 years, said Folstrom knew how to make faculty and staff members work together in harmony.

"He was just a people's person who excelled at getting people to work together," Wilson said. "I look back on projects that were very important to me, and he was usually a part of those projects in helping them to be realized."

A highlight of Folstrom's 28 years at the university was conducting the University Chorale from 1977 to 1998, when he took the group on 10 tours of Europe. Forlenza said she and other chorale members affectionately called him "Doc" or "the silver fox" for his shock of gray hair.

Forlenza said she will never forget one night when the chorale stopped at a Vienna palace, and Folstrom suddenly took her by the hand and invited her to dance.

"He showed me how to do the Viennese waltz in Vienna," she said. "He was the classiest man alive."

Wilson said Folstrom also made several trips to Lithuania during the 1990s to help establish music education reform.

Virginia Flynn, Folstrom's former student, never lost touch with her longtime mentor. The 1976 university alumna said Folstrom inspired her to become heavily involved in the Maryland Music Educators Association, where she is president — a position Folstrom held from 1993 to 1995 before his 2004 induction to the organization's Hall of Fame.

"I'm not kidding when I say the reason I'm still teaching today and for so many years is because of what he taught me. He really enjoyed music education, and he just instilled that love for music education in the rest of us," Flynn said. "He was always smiling and always had a wonderful comment or joke. It was always great when Roger was in the room."

Jeanne Folstrom described her husband as a devoted man of faith and loving father to four children, one of whom, John Folstrom, died in 1989. Roger Folstrom also directed his church choir in Bethesda for two decades.

"I just thought he was perfect," Jeanne Folstrom said. "I can only hope he thought something similar about me."

Jeanne Folstrom said she was struck by how many choir members, colleagues and former students came to her husband's funeral to celebrate his legacy through songs he taught them.

"That many people came back to sing back beautiful music for him," she said.

Folstrom is survived by his wife, Jeanne, of Silver Spring; son James Folstrom of Fishers, Ind.; daughter Elizabeth Folstrom of Issaquah, Wash.; daughter Sarah Zamudio of Danbury, Conn.; three sisters; and six grandchildren.

villanueva@umdbk.com