Ted’s death in July 2005 was completely unexpected, and left his friends, colleagues, peers, and students in shock and with an enormous sense of loss. Within a few days, Dan Sawyer and Adam Tyler created a blog site for friends to share reminiscences and help the grieving process. That blog site is archived here.

A memorial service was also held for Ted which was a profound and moving experience – a rare and unique moment in time where over 700 people came and mourned, celebrated his life, and remembered.

The large room was decorated with Bob Barry's beautiful large format photographs of Ted, and a powerful video of Ted performing at Joey Backenstoe's wedding started and ended the event. An 'open mike' was provided so that folks could share remembrances of Ted with the audience throughout the afternoon. The stories were supposed to stay on the humorous side, but it wasn't easy. Several musical performances also took place:

John and Jean Pisano
Dan Sawyer and Cathy Segal-Garcia (a lullaby medley arranged by Ted)
Ron Eschete (George VanEps arrangement)
Harpist Carol Robbins
Joey Backenstoe and Bob Holt (Ted arrangements)

Eventually we hope to place the memorial service in text format here and if possible, an audio copy of the day as well as copies of handouts, photos and other items of interest. (Please let us know of your interest via the contact page.)