Edward Leon Kottick

Edward Leon Kottick

Kansas City, MO

The world has lost a true renaissance man. Edward Leon Kottick, whose life blended music, scholarship, craftsmanship, and generosity of spirit, died on December 6, 2025, at the age of 95 in Kansas City, Mo. A musician, musicologist, educator, author, instrument builder, and conductor, Ed devoted his life to understanding, creating, and sharing music—especially the music and instruments of the renaissance and medieval periods. He was also a loving husband, father, grandfather, great-grandfather, mentor, and friend. Ed and his wife Gloria moved to Kansas City, Mo., this past May after living in Iowa City for 57 years.

Born June 16, 1930, in Jersey City, N.J., to Hyman W. and Frieda Stoller Kottick, Ed grew up in Brooklyn and attended James Madison High School. His passion for music began at age 14 when he started learning the trombone. He followed his calling and earned a bachelor’s degree in music from New York University in 1953. There he met Gloria Astor, the love of his life, whom he married on May 10, 1953.

Prior to directing the Army band at Fort Gordon, Ga., during the Korean war, Ed toured North America as a trombonist with the George Gershwin Concert Orchestra under Lorin Maazel. Following his discharge, Ed played and toured with the New Orleans Philharmonic and Opera. While earning a master’s degree in musicology from Tulane University, he discovered the harpsichord—a pivotal moment that shaped the rest of his career. He completed his Ph.D. at the University of North Carolina in 1962.

Ed taught at several institutions before joining the University of Iowa in 1968, where he remained for 24 years. There he built a national reputation as a scholar and educator, leading the Collegium Musicum and helping establish it as one of the country’s premier university early music ensembles. He published widely, collaborated on groundbreaking research into harpsichord acoustics, and was deeply respected for his advocacy for faculty rights through the American Association of University Professors.

An extraordinary craftsman, Ed built 58 harpsichords, along with clavichords, fortepianos, and numerous other historical instruments. His instruments—both visually stunning and musically refined—are treasured by musicians and institutions across the country. Internationally recognized as a leading authority on the harpsichord, he authored or co-authored seven books, including A History of the Harpsichord, and received the prestigious Curt Sachs Award from the American Musical Instrument Society in 2006.

After retiring from academia, Ed embarked on an unexpected second career as a music director for musical theatre, leading dozens of productions with Iowa City Community Theatre and City Circle Theatre. In his final years, he continued performing, conducting, exercising, building, teaching, and planning his next project—right to the end.

Ed was preceded in death by his parents, his sister Barbara, and his granddaughter Ella. He is survived by his wife Gloria; daughters Judith and her husband, Ken Bandes, and Janet and her husband, Clarence Smith; his brother Stanley and wife Harriet, his grandchildren, great-grandchildren, extended family, and countless students, colleagues, and friends whose lives he enriched.

A memorial celebration will be held at 2 p.m. on Sunday, March 8, 2026, at the Coralville Center for the Performing Arts. Donations to honor Ed’s memory may be made to Families for Safe Streets. https://ny.familiesforsafestreets.org/donate