Goodwin Sammel

August 10, 1925 - January 16, 2020

Goodwin Nicholas Sammel, distinguished pianist and beloved piano teacher in the East Bay for more than fifty years, passed away on January 16, 2020, at the age of 94, in Berkeley, California. Mr. Sammel was born in St. Joseph, Missouri, to Bess and Nicholas Sammel, the third of four children. He began playing piano at age four, imitating his mother, who was an accomplished pianist. After moves to Omaha and Creston, Iowa, his family eventually settled in Chicago in 1934. There, he continued his piano studies first under Isaac Levine, his mother’s teacher, and later Isadore Buchhalter. He attended college at the University of Chicago on an academic scholarship.

From 1945 to 1950, Mr. Sammel was a student of Claudio Arrau, who would later say his pupil possessed “exceptional natural ability to grasp and project the emotional content of works of the most various styles, along with an excellent analytic ability [and] sincerity and seriousness of purpose in music, by the diversity of his intellectual pursuits, and by his excellent intelligence and character.”

In 1962, Goodwin moved to Berkeley, where he remained for the rest of his life. He taught hundreds of students who went on to musical and nonmusical careers. He was still teaching students well into his 90s.

Goodwin Sammel is survived by his younger sister, Joan Sammel Weston, ten nieces and nephews, two grandnieces, and five grandnephews. His two elder sisters, Sonya Saper and Elaine Palevsky are deceased.

A memorial service will be held Sunday, February 23, at 10:30 a.m., at the Crowden Music Center 1475 Rose Street, in Berkeley. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to the Crowden Music Center.