Donald Jenni

Donald Martin Jenni passed away June 21, 2006 of mestastatic bone cancer. He was 68 years of age. Born October 4, 1937 to Katja Malkova (Catherine Malek) and Francois (Frank) Jenni, in Milwaukee WI, he lived there throughout his primary and secondary education. At 17 he moved to Chicago, where he took a Bachelor's degree in music at DePaul University and a Master's in Humanities (medieval studies) at the University of Chicago. He completed his doctorate (music composition) at Stanford University in 1966, returning to Chicago in the position of Assistant Professor of music theory, history, and composition at DePaul, where he remained until invited to join the faculty of The University of Iowa (Iowa City) School of Music in 1968, as Associate Professor of composition and theory. He was promoted to the rank of Full Professor 6 years later and taught at Iowa until his early retirement in 1999.