Dear Berklee Community,
It is with deep sadness that I write to tell you that Tibor Pusztai, an associate professor in the Composition Department who served on the faculty for 20 years, passed away on January 12 following 13 days in the intensive care unit at a hospital in Portland, Maine. Tibor had a heart attack on December 28 and never regained consciousness. His wife, Ann, said that the hospital staff took excellent care of him and she doesn’t think he ever experienced any pain.
Hungarian-born, Tibor came to Berklee in 1996 and over his two decades here, taught many classes, including conducting, Scoring for Strings, Traditional Harmony and Composition, and directed studies (Small Forms and Orchestral Composition). Prior to Berklee, he was a faculty member at New England Conservatory of Music, Ithaca College, University of Tehran, and Tanglewood Music Center. While at NEC, Tibor served as an assistant to Gunther Schuller, an appointment he described as “an amazing experience in terms of my education and my development.”