William Earl Webster

Bill grew up in Iowa City, IA and graduated from the University of Iowa with a BA in music. He also studied at The Curtis Institute of Music, graduating in 1962 as an oboe major, with a BMus. In 1971, he received a PhD in Philosophy from the University of Pennsylvania.

For more than 30 years, Bill taught philosophy and aesthetics at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia and was a dedicated mentor to his students. During that time, he continued to perform solo and chamber music for his students. Bill arranged 30 of Gustav Mahler’s songs for harp and oboe, as well as many works by J.S. Bach and Ravel, which he performed with the harpist Jude Mollenhauer, who was his wife at the time.

Bill possessed a love of art as well as music. He regularly took his students on field trips to the Barnes Foundation outside of Philadelphia to study the works of Picasso, Modigliani, Matisse, Van Gogh and other painters. He had a particular fondness for Cezanne, and remarked, on more than one occasion, “Studying Cezanne taught me the meaning of Bach’s music.”

In the 1990s, while he was still teaching, Bill took a trip to Japan, which would deeply inspire his own artistic pursuits for the rest of his life. He taught a course on Japanese Art and Culture, wrote haiku poetry and created a bonsai garden in his Philadelphia home.

In his retirement in Columbus, Bill continued to cultivate his love of Japanese culture. He furnished his home partly in a Japanese style and maintained a bonsai garden in his backyard.

On later trips to Japan, he developed a passion for the ancient art of suiseki (viewing stones). He created his own western interpretation of the art, gathering stones and displaying them on finely sculpted wooden bases, which he fashioned in his workshop. He displayed these works at the Renee Grae Gallery in Le Claire, Iowa and at the Franklin Park Conservatory in Columbus.

Bill is survived by his two devoted daughters, Jude and Jennifer, their husbands Fred Guterl and Hanno Schickram, and his grandchildren, Sophie Guterl, Ben Guterl and Nik Schickram.

Donations can made in his name to the Alzheimer’s Association.