Richard E. Bishop

Dick Bishop left a life well lived on May 3, 2016, after 78 years. Dick was devoted to his family and friends, to his beloved wife Nancy, to Indiana University, and to the music he loved. He was most widely known for his broadcasts on WFIU and his extensive knowledge of jazz, swing, big band, and American popular song, and the artists, Hoosier and otherwise, who created these masterpieces. Many know his “martini-moon” voice, as one writer called it, from WFIU broadcasts spanning 55 years: “Afterglow”, “The Big Bands”, and “Standards by Starlight”. In his professional life, Dick was devoted to Indiana University and its well-being. In every position that he held, he exemplified the university’s best, and most Hoosier, qualities: excellence, hard work, civility, openness, and caring. He served ably and well, sometimes at the forefront and often – in keeping with his character --quietly and effectively behind the scenes. Always a gentleman and a class act, Dick befriended colleagues, students, musicians, and fraternity brothers, and had a broad circle of close friends. He was generous and modest. He had a quick and irreverent wit; he could put a serious situation in perspective with humor, and could see the ridiculous in the everyday. Richard Eric Bishop grew up in Grosse Point, Michigan, the only child of Clarence and Wanda Bishop. He was an avid baseball and Detroit Tigers fan. He inherited his love of music from his father, who bought him his first set of drums when he was a very young child. Dick liked to play along with recordings of his favorite big bands, especially Glenn Miller and Tommy Dorsey, and organized his own neighborhood band. His family later moved to Fort Wayne, where he graduated from Concordia High School. He started his broadcast career there, producing a jazz program that he broadcast over the PA system at lunch hour. He attended Indiana University in Bloomington and graduated with a B.S. in Education in 1961. While at IU, he was a senior manager for the IU baseball team. He joined Kappa Delta Rho fraternity, where “Bish” made lifelong friends. He continued to enjoy and share the music he loved by hosting his own 15-minute jazz program on WFIU. A few of his many favorite artists were Frank Sinatra, Hoagy Carmichael, the Four Freshmen, and Al Cobine. Every spring, he organized a jazz festival at his fraternity that was open to the entire campus. After teaching in South Bend for a few years, Dick became the first university relations director for the new Indiana University-Purdue University at Fort Wayne campus. Returning to Bloomington, he took a position at the IU Alumni Association where he worked with alumni constituent groups and traveled all over the country. He also worked in support of the university’s sesquicentennial fundraising campaign in the dean’s office in the School of Education. He later served in University Division, as director of external relations for the School of Public and Environmental Affairs, and in fund development for Radio & TV, including WFIU and WTIU. He was an adviser for his fraternity in the late 1970s and into the eighties. Meanwhile, he earned his M.S. in Education and later an Ed.D. in Higher Education Administration. While a graduate student, he served as administrative assistant to IU Presidents Joseph L. Sutton, Interim President Herman B Wells, and John W. Ryan. In 1988, then IU Foundation President Curt Simic recruited him to serve in a leadership role in the university’s fundraising and investment management organization. In addition to his many other responsibilities, Dick was the president’s office liaison to the IU Student Foundation. He coached and mentored and enjoyed generations of students; many are friends to this day. Dick was introduced by friends to the love of his life and his wife of 29 years, Nancy Harvey Bishop. They were devoted to each other, and were great partners until Nancy’s death in 2007. Along with his work for the university, Dick played drums in a jazz group called The Faculty Five and continued his broadcast career. His knowledge of music was broad and deep, and he became friends with many of the outstanding musicians at the IU Jacobs School of Music, such as David Baker, Eugene Rousseau, and Dominic Spera. To prepare for his broadcasts, Dick frequently interviewed renowned artists including such people as Louis Armstrong, Mel Torme, Henry Mancini, Artie Shaw, Buddy Rich, Marian McPartland, and many others; some became friends as well as professional colleagues. He incorporated these interviews into his programs, giving his listeners unique and engaging insights into the music he loved. He was the emcee for IU’s Big Band Extravaganza from its inception in the early 1980s through 2011. He taught classes on American Popular Song and Hoagy Carmichael and at IU’s Mini University, and was Carmichael’s unofficial historian at the university. He was a regular at Nick’s English Hut. Along with owner Dick Barnes, Dick and a group of cronies sat on the stools at the front window on Saturday afternoons, observing life on Kirkwood and solving the problems of the world. Dick’s awards and honors included the Al Cobine Award, given by Jazz from Bloomington in recognition of distinguished service to the jazz community of South Central Indiana, the Distinguished Hoosier Award from the State of Indiana, the Herman B Wells Legacy Award from the IU Foundation, and the IU School of Education Distinguished Alumni Award. The Richard E. Bishop Scholarship in the School of Education was established in his honor upon his retirement. An anonymous donor has fully endowed a scholarship in his name for the IU Student Foundation. Dick was a member of the I Association and a life member of the IU Alumni Association. After he retired, Dick went back to work almost immediately for the Foundation on a part-time basis and then continued to work as a volunteer in the office of the IUF president emeritus until his death. Dick was preceded in death by his parents, his wife Nancy, and his aunts Laura Spietz, Helene Heymann, and Eugenia (Jean) Tomandl. He is survived by his cousin, Paul Tomandl, of Spring Lake, Michigan, sister-in-law Cindy Harvey of St. Louis, Missouri, godchildren Rob Weber and Kelli Wilson Wallace, and many friends and colleagues. Dick requested that those who wish may make memorial contributions to the IU Foundation, P.O. Box 500, Bloomington, IN 47402, designated for the Nancy Harvey Bishop Student Support Fund in the School of Education. There will be no funeral services. A celebration of life will be held at a later date. Allen Funeral Home and Crematory 4155 South Old State Road 37 is handling the arrangements and online condolences, photos and memories may be shared with family and friends at www.allencares.com.

Tributes

Richard E. Bishop

January 29, 1938 - May 3, 2016