John Dworkin

John Dworkin was born in Rochester, New York April 9, 1965. His two older sisters recall that, as a little boy in the back seat of the family car, he would correctly anticipate musical changes of songs on the radio before anyone else. The precision and broad receptivity of his musical ear were profound and life-long.

Unlike other members of his musical family, John was at first entirely self-taught. He became proficient on the guitar as a teen well before he learned to read music. Pivotally, while an English major at SUNY-Plattsburgh, John played with fellow undergraduate students in SYHAW ("Scratch Your Head And Wonder"), a band that emphasized experimentation and played a mix of blues, jazz, psychedelic rock—and ultimate frisbee. As with close friends from Niskayuna High School, John stayed in touch with members of SYHAW throughout his life.

To develop musically, after teaching himself to read music in order to do so, John attended the Berklee College of Music in Boston. Some years later, he pursued graduate studies in music at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff. By this point, jazz had become central to his musical life, and he performed with superb players like Joel DiBartolo (bass player for Johnny Carson's Tonight Show band), as well as arranging jazz standards and contemporary music and composing pieces of his own. However, as one can readily see and hear in a compilation that John himself made months before his death, his interest and skills were not confined by musical genre. www.youtube.com/watch?v=zptKPAMTyEw&t=6724s

For John's entire adult life, a second passion was his interest in liberation for Palestinians. He read extensively about the history of Palestine and Israel, attended many panel discussions where activists spoke and where he documented the proceedings as a videographer. In the summer of 2015 he and his sister Joy were delegates to Palestine/Israel via Interfaith Peace-Builders (a group now called "Eyewitness Palestine"), meeting with peace activists through the West Bank and Israel.

Along with his passions for music and Palestine, John will be remembered for his warm, inviting nature and unique brand of wit. Indeed, it was due to his affable nature that, even as a child, within the first few days of living abroad with his family, he befriended two Spaniards who became the family's closest and dearest adult friends. He will also be remembered as an avid film buff, as proven by his extensive movie collection. John had a great memory for the nuances and particulars of his favorite movies, and family gatherings will be considerably less lively without his ubiquitous movie quotations.

John lived in many places throughout his life: Schenectady, Sevilla (Spain), Plattsburgh, London, NYC, Albany, Flagstaff, Chicago, Bloomington (IL), and finally Tacoma. In his final years in Tacoma, playing music with others was hit and miss, but he continued composing, arranging, playing, and recording. For a time he was involved in "Music Mends Minds," a nonprofit that uses music to enliven the final years of seniors suffering from dementia. Money-making for John was mostly in the restaurant/food industry, and he was friendly with co-workers at Domino's Pizza. In his final months he found a truly simpatico work environment at Corbeau, a "Franco-Tacoman eatery" where he vibed with his co-workers, whose easy banter reminded him of his SYHAW friends.

In addition to many life-long friends, John David Brian Dworkin is survived by his father Earl Dworkin and step-mother Tricia Cassady-Dworkin, sister Joy Dworkin and her son Jeremy Lynn, sister Leslie Dworkin and her husband Kent De Spain and son Rey De Spain, aunt Lisa Rosenthal and her husband Len Orzol, and step-sister Erika Vogt. John's paternal aunt, Denny Miller, passed away a few years ago, and his mother, Elaine Vogt, passed away just weeks before John's diagnosis of pancreatic cancer, which he received in early November 2025. John passed away February 1st, after spending his final month in hospice, in the care of Leslie and Joy in Joy's home in Tacoma.