TIRRO, FRANK P.

Dr. Frank Pascale Tirro, devoted husband, father, grandfather, and colleague, passed from this life to the life eternal on March 28, 2021. He was born in Omaha, Nebraska, of Italian immigrant parents Mary and Frank Tirro, who were themselves forces of nature. He attended Omaha Central High School and the University of Nebraska, married Charlene (Whitney) Tirro, of Chappell, NE, then did graduate work in musicology at Northwestern and the University of Chicago (PhD, 1974), where he started the Music program for the now-legendary University of Chicago Lab School. He became a professor at the University of Kansas, then chair of the Music Department at Duke University, and Dean of the Yale School of Music until his retirement in 2010. His Jazz: A History (Norton, 1977), which went on to be translated into Japanese, Chinese, and Spanish, was the first modern history of Jazz and became a foundational text in the field.

Devotion is a word bandied about, especially in obituaries, but Frank embodied it. He gave selflessly to his family, most of all to his wife of 60 years Charlene (Whitney) Tirro. Frank was preceded in death by his mother Mary Spensieri Tirro, father Frank Tirro, and brother Richard Tirro. He is survived by his wife Charlene Tirro, his brother-in-law Charles Whitney, his son John Tirro and daughter-in-law Misty Anderson, his daughter Cyndi Hansard and son-in law Dustin Hansard, and grandchildren Anderson Ramey Tirro, Trevor Joseph Tirro, Jess Pascal Hansard, and Anna Grace Hansard. The family plans a celebration of life later in the summer once it is safe to gather. In lieu of flowers, memorial gifts can be made to the Yale School of Music “Music in the Schools Initiative” at http://www. yale.edu/givemusic, or to scholarships at the Neighborhood Music School, 100 Audubon Street, New Haven, CT 06510, or at https://nmsnewhaven.org/ways-togive/