A man who made his mark in education and performing arts has passed away at the age of 85.
Henry Waack moved to New Westminster in 1970, where he was a founding member of Douglas College.
“He was there at the very beginning of the music program in 1970,” said Bob Caldwell, coordinator of the Community Music School and a member of the college’s faculty of music. “They worked out of a little church hall. There wasn’t even property at that time.”
Prior to moving to New Westminster in 1970, Waack taught in Alberta, played semi-pro baseball and hockey, and was a provincially ranked tennis player. In Alberta, he produced many musicals, was a music critic for the Lethbridge Herald and played in the Jasper Park Lodge orchestra for seven seasons in the early 1960s – a place where he met celebrities like Bing Crosby.
“He’d tell stories about all sorts of stars,” Caldwell said. “Some would be performing, some would be passing through.”
Waack studied piano with many leading Canadian, American and European teachers. He also made an impact with the thousands of students he taught through his career.
“He was a great teacher,” said Caldwell, who had Waack as an instructor in the 1970s. “He taught piano, classical piano. He was very confident playing jazz and pop.”
Through his career, Waack was musical director for more than 75 musicals. He retired in 1993 but continued teaching part-time at the college for another five years. He continued to teach privately until four months ago – marking 71 years of teaching.
In 1992, Waack established a musical scholarship at Douglas College that disperses $1,000 annually to Douglas College music students. Every five years, he held a concert to raise funds for the scholarship, the most recent being for his 85th birthday.
A funeral will be held on Friday, Oct. 11 at 11 a.m. at Mount Calvary Lutheran Church, 710 Sixth St. In lieu of flowers the family asks for donations to the Henry Waack Scholarship Fund (in care of the Douglas College Foundation, David Lam Campus, 1250 Pinetree Way, Coquitlam, B.C., V3B 7X3).
