In Memoriam - Mark McDunn

MARK McDUNN, 80; Professor filled life with music
When her friends would call the family home in River Forest, Madonna Broihier recalled how her father, Mark McDunn, would play a special song on his trombone for each of them.  There wasn't any particular reason he paired certain songs with certain friends, his daughter said, but once he started doing it, he wouldn't stop.  "It was a joke with my friends my whole life," she said. "For one of my friends, Trudy, every time she called he would play `Smoke Gets in Your Eyes.'"

Mr. McDunn, 80, a professor of music at DePaul University for 37 years who toured widely, released three solo albums and played for more than 1,500 radio and television commercials, died Wednesday, Feb. 20, in his daughter's home in Naperville of complications after a stroke.

Born in Johnstown, Pa., Mr. McDunn moved to Chicago with his family as a young child. His love of music began at Maywood's Proviso High School, where his band teacher inspired him to believe he could be the "absolute best," his daughter said, and to relate music to other aspects of life.  "That's what he tried to pass on to everyone," she said. "The joke in the family was that you could talk to my dad about anything, and no matter what the conversation had started out about, you were talking about music within five minutes."

Donald Casey, dean of the School of Music at DePaul University, said Mr. McDunn, besides being a top-notch musician, embodied the university's broader values of caring and kindness.  "Mark believed in that," Casey said. "He made a lifelong impression on his students."

Mr. McDunn's first job as a musician was during World War II. He enlisted in the service after high school and served his country as a member of the Army Band, entertaining overseas combat troops with concerts for about three years, his daughter said.  After the war, he played first trombone for the CBS Television orchestra for 15 years, providing music for live shows. During this time, Mr. McDunn also recorded many television commercials and made records on his own and with different bands.  In 1954, he joined the faculty at DePaul University, teaching there while conducting frequent clinics on brass instruments for other colleges.  "He used to open every clinic by saying that he never worked a day in his life," his wife, Irene, recalled. "He said, `I love my work because it isn't work. It's what I love to do.'"

Mr. McDunn also co-wrote a series of method books for brass instruments that was published in the U.S., Europe and Japan, and he was a design consultant for several brass-instrument makers. He also formed and directed DePaul's Vincentian Trombone Choir.  Mr. McDunn retired from full-time teaching in 1991. He continued to teach part time at DePaul until 1995 and with private students for years after that.  "He had a great rapport with young people," his daughter said. "And he had an interesting way of teaching. It wasn't a thing where [he said] you had to go home and practice, but that this is what you could accomplish if you did practice."  "He taught them music, but he also taught them about life," his wife said, "about all the beautiful things that come from music and doing the right thing in life."

Mr. McDunn also is survived by another daughter, Maureen Chiricotti; six grandchildren; and a great-grandchild.  Mass will be said at 11 a.m. Saturday in St. Luke Church, at Lake Street and Lathrop Avenue, River Forest.

Chicago Tribune, Feb 23, 2002, pg. 23, Karen Rivedal, Tribune staff reporter