Herman Clarence Giersch

Best teacher I ever had. I was a teacher too for 44 years! I wish more teachers were like him! Thanks Doc!

Herman and Edith were good friends of my parents. When Edith fell ill at Silver Bay, she came to MCHV in Vermont, where my mom, a nurse, took care of her. My mom brought Edith in to our house when she was discharged from the hospital, but needed to stay nearby to continue some therapy and treatment. They were friends ever since.

I have fond memories of Edith and Herman visiting my house, and me visiting them in PA and Silver Bay. I learned saxophone in school, and Herman gave me a...

Dr Giersch was my band instructor at Bala-Cynwyd Junior High. The year I started attending Lower Merion High School he took on that role there. I was fortunate to be under his leadership for 6 years. He was the best! He must have had the patience of Job to endure those 6 years (and beyond). God bless this wonderful man. Jeff Phillips (class of '68 LMHS). May 29, 2017

My parents first met Herman and Edith Giersch in the early 1950s in Penn Wynne, through Holy Apostles Church. Years later, Herman taught my sister (viola) and brother (trumpet) at Lower Merion High School. But the best was yet to come.

When my mother, by then widowed, moved to Granite Farms Estates retirement community in Wawa (Media) in 1995, the Giersches were already there. Mom's apartment was in the same corridor as the Giersches', and they revived their old friendship. Herman (I...

I had Dr. Giersch for music theory at Lower Merion in 1969, and he was my favorite teacher. I saw him at Granite Farms several times, and I couldn't believe how enthusiastic he still was in his 90's.

I will always remember his smile and great kindness and love for teaching others.

What a humble obituary for such a great man. Herman Giersch was a man so well suited for his profession as a teacher and a leader. I had the pleasure of playing for him in the orchestra at the Narberth Community theater for over twenty years.

I first played for him in for a production of Music Man in 1991. I have never performed with a more organized, more demanding, more kind leader. He was not young when I met him, but his strapping fitness and vitality surprised me. I wanted to know...

Dr.Giersch was a warm, vibrant man, with a love for his students, and music.
I was a member of the LMHS choir 1982-86. He was always passionate about the music, and inspired that same passion in us. He will not be forgotten easily. May his memory be a blessing to his family, as it is to me.

Dr. Giersch was the only music teacher ever to see potential in me. I'm no great singer, believe me, but at Bala Cynwyd Middle School Graduation in 1983, he allowed me to take part in a quartet performance. Thanks to him (and three classmates much more talented than I), we pulled it off. Nearly 35 years later, that remains one of my fondest memories of middle school. Thank you, Dr. Giersch. You will be sorely missed.