Kenneth Wentworth

1927 - 2020
Kenneth Wentworth, 92, college professor and concert pianist, died on March 22 in Washington, DC. Survived by son David (Betsy Broder) and daughter Martha Woods (Steve) and four adored granddaughters (Ariel and Caroline Wentworth, Catherine and Toby Woods). He was predeceased by his son Jonathan (Gabriel Milanese) and by his wife of 68 years, Jean (Anderson) Wentworth. Immensely warm and generous, he was revered as a teacher and loved by family and colleagues. As a youth he worked on a Maine farm, then joined the Navy during WWII. He studied piano under Irwin Freundlich at the Julliard School, where he met his wife Jean. Together they formed a piano four-hand team that toured world-wide, commissioned new music, and created a distinguished discography of contemporary and classical repertoire. He was a professor at Sarah Lawrence College for forty years, was active in the civil rights movement, was a Fulbright Scholar in India, ran an Upward Bound program, founded the Cooperative College Center of SUNY, and established the concert management firm of Jonathan Wentworth Associates. He and Jean continued to perform together into their 80s and he worked almost full-time until just before his death. Donations in his memory can be sent to either Whitman-Walker Clinic (www.whitman-walker.org) or the Refugee and Immigrant Center For Education and Legal Services (www.raicestexas.org).