Berklee Today: Herb Pomeroy, 1930–2007

Trumpeter and jazz education pioneer Herb Pomeroy passed away on August 11.
September 10, 2007

The august, tousled eminence of Berklee College of Music has cased his flugelhorn, stepped off the podium, shut the classroom door, and passed into the night. Irving Herbert Pomeroy III '52, mentor and musician who helped put Berklee College on the world's musical map, died August 11 after a bout with cancer. He was 77.

As faculty legends go, Pomeroy was, as his idol Duke Ellington once said, "beyond category." During 40 years on Berklee's faculty, Pomeroy became a beloved and revered teacher while building a reputation as a discerning and canny listener, a feisty bandleader, and a trumpeter who could play anything from bop to Duke to the Ice Capades. He made numerous albums as a bandleader and dozens of recordings as coleader and sideman, including sessions with Charlie Parker and Charlie Mariano.

Read more about Herb Pomeroy in Berklee Today.