We are saddened by the passing of Professor Emeritus Stephen E. Busch on Tuesday, March 19. He was a generous man of deep service to family, church, Rotary, and music education.

Born May 18, 1930, in Neenah, Wisconsin, Steve moved to Fort Collins where he became a stalwart of our Music Education program at Colorado State University from 1962 until retiring in 1997. After his retirement, you could find Steve at the numerous concerts of the department over the years.

Steve Busch was known as the “heartbeat” of the Rotary Club of Fort Collins. For decades he started each meeting with either a melody reflecting the season or a rousing patriotic song. He provided selfless service in a variety of activities, involved with Inspiration Playground, Highway Cleanup, The Gardens at Spring Creek, and the 4-Way Test Program in the Junior High Schools.

Inducted in CMEA Hall of Fame in 1989, Steve was quoted as saying, “we can truthfully say a musical experience is a unique experience. Nothing can take it’s place. This experience is a vital and necessary experience in the life of an individual, if he is to achieve the ultimate in self-assurance and human understanding.”

Stephen is survived by JoAnne, his wife of 54 years; his two daughters, Gwynne Cleveland and Carol Busch; and his grandson, Stefan Bennett. He is preceded in death by his daughter, Heather; his parents, Mary and Orrin Busch; and his sister, Carol Letter.

Please join us in remembering and celebrating the life of a wonderful man who made a difference in the lives of so many people.

Services

Services for Stephen Busch will be held at the Bohlender Funeral Chapel, 121 W. Olive Street in Fort Collins, this Saturday, March 23 at 1 p.m. In lieu of flowers, the family is asking for donations to be directed to the music program at Colorado State University.

Make a Gift in Memory of Dr. Stephen Busch

Donate online or send in your contribution to:

Checks are made payable to the CSU Foundation – please note ‘in memory of Stephen Busch.’ Please contact Carrie Care at (970) 491-5891 for further information.

A Note from CSU Professor, Dr. Paul Metz

Professionally, Steve was THE music education area at CSU for most of his years here. In fact, when I last saw him, I mentioned to him that we now have THREE full-time faculty in music education at CSU, and he was thrilled. My recollection of him as a teacher was that he was totally dedicated to our students. I recall many of his students at the time telling me what an unbelievably energetic and dynamic teacher Steve was, even in his later years.

In recent years, Steve would regularly stop by my office for a visit, usually claiming that he was there to “check up on me and make sure that I was observing my office hours”!

We used to hike together frequently–even in recent years I would encounter Steve and one of his other friends out for a weekly hike, usually either on the Greyrock trail or the Horsetooth Rock trail. Steve always said that he suffered from altitude sickness if he tried to go above 12,000 feet, but in July of 1991, he joined a group of us that also included Professor Emeritus Ed Anderson, Professor Emeritus Lee Egbert, current Professor Bill Davis, and myself to climb a “14er” in honor of Ed Anderson’s 75th birthday. On July 26th, we all made to the top of 14,265′ Quandary Peak, and Steve said he felt fine the whole time. Steve started the tradition of having several of us in the department get out for a hike in the early fall, followed by a big cookout. We always had a great time with that.