Albert E. Tucher

Albert E. Tucher, who for 25 years directed the chorus and for most of that time also led the Fine Arts Department at Bridgewater-Raritan High School West, died on Dec. 16 at the Arbor Glen retirement community in Bridgewater after a long illness. He was 85. The annual holiday and spring chorus concerts were a beloved tradition at HS West, and every December alumni of the chorus enjoyed trooping onstage and adding their voices to the final number—always Handel's "Hallelujah Chorus." Active in music education, Tucher was a regular guest conductor at the annual state Opera Festival and the All-State Chorus. He retired in 1987. Tucher was born on Oct. 20, 1926, in Manhattan, to Albert Emil Tucher, a native of Nuremberg, Germany, and the former Theresa Peyrek, of Graz, Austria. He grew up on Staten Island. Graduating from Port Richmond High School in January, 1944, at 17, he immediately enlisted in the Navy, where he was selected to train as a fighter pilot in the rigorous V-12 program. The war ended before he could be sent overseas. After his honorable discharge he earned bachelor's and master's degrees in music from New York University while working in the information bureau of the New York Daily News. On July 8, 1950, he married Doris Clark, whom he had met on the Staten Island Ferry; she survives him. He taught at New Dorp High School on Staten Island and at South Plainfield High School in New Jersey before coming to HS West in 1962. As the father of a growing family he often put his considerable mechanical and other skills to use in an array of summer and part-time jobs, from piano teacher to line worker at Buffalo Tank, parts-chaser at General Motors, and longtime manager and team coach at the Coppermine Swim Club in Bridgewater. Besides his wife of 61 years, he is survived by his children, Albert, of Westfield, N.J.; Andrea, of New York; Robert, of High Bridge, N.J.; Carol, of Brookhaven, N.Y.; and Frederick, of Kailua, HI; four grandchildren, Catherina and Clark of High Bridge, and William and Daniel of Kailua; two daughters-in-law, Michelle Sabbagh and Deborah Tucher; three nieces; and a nephew. He was predeceased by his two sisters, Dorothy Collins of Negaunee, MI, and Lola Gavett of Los Alamos, NM. Memorial services will be held 11 am Saturday January 28, 2012 at Arbor Glen Auditorium, 100 Monroe Street, Bridgewater, NJ 08807. Cremation service was private. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in his name to the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, http://www.njsymphony.org/SupportNJSO/donate.htm.