Jean Zeiger Cunningham's Obituary
Jean Cunningham
May 5, 1928 – August 23, 2015
Jean Zeiger Cunningham, 87, of Oakland, CA, passed away unexpectedly on Sunday, August 23, 2015. Friend, musician, music librarian, chemist, mother, grandmother, sister, wife, traveler and teacher were among the many roles Jean fulfilled with skill, humor, clarity, and love.
Jean was born in Cincinnati, OH, graduated from Walnut Hills High School in Cincinnati, and received a BA in Chemistry in 1950 from Barnard College in New York City. After a short stint working as a chemist with Procter & Gamble in Cincinnati, Jean followed her heart and moved west to study music at UC Berkeley, realizing upon her arrival that the Bay Area was her true home. After she received her MA in musicology from Cal, she spent a year in Vienna, Austria, studying flute on a Hertz Fellowship, where she was the only woman performing professionally due to gender restrictions on professional musicians.
Jean became a member of the Oakland Symphony Orchestra shortly after returning from Vienna. In addition to the Oakland Symphony, Jean played with many groups during her performance career, including the Golden Gate Park Band, Woodminster summer musical theater, SF Opera and Ballet orchestras (some years playing as many as 27 performances of The Nutcracker Ballet), and as a solo performer or ensemble member at weddings, at private parties, and even on a cruise. Jean was a sought-after teacher, giving private lessons in her home and at Holy Names and Mills Colleges, among others.
While still performing with the Oakland Symphony, Jean became the orchestra’s music librarian, which started her down the vocational and avocational path she followed for the rest of her life. After she retired from performing, Jean focused her attention on the Paramount Theatre Library of Popular Music, which she built from scratch into one of the largest libraries of popular and light-classical music in the country.
As important as music was to Jean, it was not her only note – she lived many melodies and harmonies in her life. Jean had a lively interest in science, volunteering several times with EarthWatch in the U.S. and abroad on archeological digs and botanical studies, and as evidenced in gifts to her grandchildren, such as a book about birds listening to Bach, which her grandson says he hadn’t realized he wanted, but “somehow she did.” Jean valued nature, the outdoors, and the environment. Jean and her husband Richard Cunningham spent their honeymoon as summer fire lookouts in the Windy Mountains of Wyoming. Jean was a member of the Nature Conservancy and an active member of the Sierra Club for many years. She valued her membership at the Hills Swim & Tennis Club, where she swam several times a week until the end of 2014. Jean loved travel and history and often combined the two. She traveled extensively in the U.S., and to England, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Germany, Austria, Turkey, and the Upper Amazon, often reading and researching beforehand about the places she would be visiting. Jean eventually came full circle, back to chemistry, when she joined her son Nils in establishing a small cabernet vineyard, learning about grape culture and winemaking.
Although Jean was faced with serious health issues in 2015, she continued to be upbeat and optimistic about her recovery and her future. She viewed her situation with the same dry humor she’d applied to everything in life, the humor that made her full of surprises and interesting quirks, and led to choosing gifts for family like a calendar themed around outhouses. Her family wishes to thank Jean’s friends and colleagues for their many visits and letters, which were a tremendous source of comfort to her during this time.
Jean is survived by her children Lars Cunningham (Greta), Nils Cunningham (Lisa), and Carla Cunningham Scherr (Stephen); grandchildren Martin and Ruth Scherr; and cousins Marjorie and Irene Newmark. She was predeceased by her husband, Richard B. Cunningham (d. 1971).
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Paramount Theatre Music Library, 2025 Broadway, Oakland, CA 94612.
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