a Girl Scout Leader, and hospice volunteer. She is survived by four daughters. ’42 A. Chapman “Chappy” Lawton died September 20, 2004.
“Without him, there would be no arts in Central Florida.” —Joe Nassif, Director of the Bach Festival
The family is still heavily involved in the nonprofit theater, with daughter-in-law Sigrid as Enzian president and Tiedtke’s only other child, his son Philip, on the board of directors. The Enzian—named for a flower from Sylvia’s native Austria—is home to a number of area film festivals, including the popular Florida Film Festival each spring. But Tiedtke’s great love, his first love, was music. “The genius in life is to know what you love and pursue it,” said his son, Philip Tiedtke. “My father loved music.” “He was a believer in the power of classical music,” said Knight. “He believed that it was important to a civilized society.” Tiedtke grew up in a house with classical music in it. His family had a player-organ “and he always spoke of hearing this organ playing great music, that he got his love of that music from his father,” said Prutsman. “He never lectured me,” Tiedtke once said. “I just grew up listening to good music. That’s probably what did it.” Tiedtke took over The Bach Festival in 1950, when its founder and main benefactor died. “The Bach Festival choir was his choir,” said Sinclair, music director for The Bach Festival, and the John M. Tiedtke endowed chairman of the music department at Rollins College. “He and I disagreed on music, all the time. He loved Wagner. But he loved the Verdi ‘Requiem,’ and I made sure we did that every three or four years, at the Festival, just for him.” In 1973, he was among the first Floridians recognized with a Governor’s Award for the Arts.
Rollins gave him an honorary doctorate in 1975. More recently, United Arts of Central Florida named its biggest award honoring philanthropy for Tiedtke. For all his wealth and influence over the arts, friends and colleagues remember Tiedtke as an unassuming man, someone who would pitch in and do the mundane things to make sure an event went smoothly. “I can picture him now, fishing around for the light switches in the Annie Russell Theatre [at Rollins], after driving [pianist] Emanuel Ax there for a rehearsal,” said Nassif.
‘Just John helping out’ “He’d sit through the rehearsal, and take them where they needed to go next. No pretense. Just John helping out.” Though he was active up to the end, in recent years Tiedtke’s health had begun to fail. He was hospitalized briefly after his wife’s death on Dec. 5, but was at home when he died. The Tiedtkes’ influence on their hometown will live on. Despite his lifelong aversion to such attention, John Tiedtke’s name will be in brick and mortar at Rollins College. The new 400-seat recital hall in the expanding music building will be named for him. Sinclair said it’s the most fitting tribute for a man who loved great music in a great hall. “You couldn’t ask for a better mentor, or friend,” Sinclair said. “Boy, I miss him already.”
’42 Patricia Pritchard Finley died November 26, 2004. While at Rollins, she performed in many theater productions, was a member of Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority, and served as gossip columnist for the Sandspur. A member of Actors Equity, she performed in professional summer stock in Connecticut. She is survived by two sons. ’49 Willard “Dub” Palmer, a former high school football coach and top-winning coach in Florida, died November 18, 2004. The seventh-most-winning coach in the state, he won five state championships, had no losing seasons, and twice was a runner-up in the statewide playoffs. An Army veteran of World War II, he also coached track, baseball, and golf. ’52 Wayne Morgan Pontious died October 23, 2004. He served as an orthopedic medic in the U.S. Army in Japan and later worked in heavy steel construction in Illinois for 22 years as president of Kenwood Construction Company. He also enjoyed raising and training horses. He is survived by two sons and a daughter. ’58 Janet Leech Brett died August 27, 2004. ’59 Robert “Bob” Zumft died October 14, 2004. At Rollins, he was president of KA and competed with the crew and tennis teams. The founder of North Shore Enterprises and Old Man’s Boatyard, Bob turned his passion for the sea into a lifetime career of maritime businesses. He is survived by his wife, Arlene, and daughters Gwyneth Zumft Fournie ’80 and Christi Knight.
Reprinted by permission of the Orlando Sentinel.
OCTOBER 17-23 SPRING 2005 39