An Elmhurst University alumna has made a $500,000 gift to the school to fund a visiting artist program in honor of the school’s longtime director of jazz studies, Doug Beach.
Maureen Lamberty Heakin, who graduated from the school in the early 1970s with a degree in psychology, said her experience of jazz at Elmhurst didn’t come from her undergraduate days, but from many years of attending the school’s annual summer jazz music program, now known as June Jazz. Heakin, now retired in Florida, said while she and her husband John lived in River Forest, they regularly attended events and lectures at the school, as well as the summer jazz event.
“After going to these June Jazz concerts, we realized what a terrific job Doug was doing,” Heakin said in a phone conversation with Pioneer Press. “He instilled in (the student musicians) a wonderful work ethic and reaching for the stars.”
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Heakin, who got to know Beach over the years, called him a brilliant musician.
“I said, ‘this is something I want to support,'” she said. Her support will be known formally as The Maureen Lamberty Heakin International Artists Series for Jazz Studies.
Beach retired in June as director of jazz studies. During his 43-year career at the school, he earned some of the institution’s highest teaching honors. An accomplished trumpet player and composer, he is also a Grammy Award winner, a frequent recipient of the Plus Award from the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP), and a member of the Elmhurst Civic Hall of Fame.
“Maureen’s gift is the perfect way to carry forward Doug’s extraordinary legacy as a teacher, mentor, leader and musician,” University President Troy VanAken said in a statement. “We greatly appreciate her generosity, and her role in helping to give our students a transformative experience.”
Heakin said Beach designed the program, which is expected to bring accomplished jazz musicians to campus several times a year.
– Original Credit: Elmhurst University
“What I hope to accomplish through my gift is to provide funding for future Jazz Studies directors,” Heakin said in a statement from the school, “to continue this very important piece of the learning puzzle for our students — one-on-one interaction with those who have a wealth of experience to pass on to them.”
Beach was enthusiastic. “Boy, I thought, if we could have an endowment . . . to maybe bring in three or four guest artists for a short three- or four-day residency to teach some classes, just be around (our students), maybe include a concert.
“Handing down the art form is what I’m trying to create,” he said. “And Maureen thought it would be a good way to go, so that’s how it all came together.”
No artist candidates or start dates for the program are yet set, but Beach said his Rolodex is full of gifted jazz musicians, many of whom have participated in other Elmhurst jazz events.