John Dwight Mcleod

John was a violinist from a young age and he graduated from the High School of Music and Art in New York City in 1964. He earned a Bachelor’s and a Master’s Degree in violin performance from the Manhattan School of Music. He followed that with doctoral work at the State University of New York in Binghamton, studying chamber music with members of the Lenox String Quartet.

After a courtship of 3 years, he married the love of his life, Marilyn (Raven) on September 19, 1968 in New York City. They celebrated their 50th anniversary with a vacation to Nantucket and places on the east coast from their honeymoon. They enjoyed traveling together throughout their marriage, from an early cross-country drive from New York to San Francisco to extended travels during their retirement that included Route 66, Alaska, the Canadian Rockies and as far away as the Mediterranean Sea.

Of all musical forms, he especially loved chamber music and the string quartet repertoire, and he was able to pursue his passion first as a member of the Manhattan String Quartet that included a residency at Grinnell College (IA) and with the Pro Arte Quartet at the University of Wisconsin (Madison). He was a faculty member of the Music Department of Ohio Wesleyan University from 1974-1979 and then came to the University of Missouri in 1979 where he joined the Esterhazy String Quartet and the faculty of the Music Department, where he taught and performed until his retirement in 2007. For many years, he would perform with his father, a pianist, accompanying him.

He was a wonderful and caring teacher, and his students’ success was paramount to him. John was a past president of the Missouri String Teachers Association and received that organization’s Artist Teacher Award (1996) and Collegiate Educator Award (2006).

In his personal life, he loved planning (and going on) trips around the country and around the world. He was delighted to get to the Isle of Skye in Scotland to visit the ancestral home of the MacLeod clan and then return home on a once-in-a-lifetime transatlantic trip aboard the Queen Mary 2. John enjoyed studying in great depth the history of the American Civil War, and he and his wife traveled to many of the sites related to that war. His great grandfather had fought for the Union, and John treasured a sword and rifle that were handed down to him through the family which may have been the inspiration for his interest.

Never a follower of any organized religion, his life was a model of how to live an ethical life. A colleague once told him that if you looked up the word “gentleman” in the dictionary, “you would find a picture of John McLeod.”

Quiet but thoughtful, always kind and generous, his greatest joy was his family. Survivors include his wife, Marilyn of the home; his daughter, Alison Robuck (David) of Columbia, his three grandchildren, Natalie, Rebecca and Harrison Robuck; his sister Kathy Rostron (Columbia); his sister Donna Kiger (Winston-Salem) and several nieces and nephews.

There will not be a funeral service. A celebration of life will be held at a future date.

Donations in his name can be made to the Food Bank of Central Missouri, the Voluntary Action Center, or other organizations that help people in need.