ROBERT D. COGAN

1930 - 2021

COGAN, Robert D. Music Theorist, Composer and Educator Composer and educator Robert D. Cogan, 91, of Cambridge, MA, passed away peacefully in his home on August 19, 2021, with friends and family in attendance and Schubert playing in the background. He is survived by Pozzi Escot, his wife of 61 years, as well as his beloved daughter Kali, his adored granddaughter Annaka, his brother Richard, his wife Carolyn, and their family. Over the course of nearly a century, Robert influenced innumerable lives through his dedication to music and science. His family, friends, students (and their students) will forever remember Robert. While Robert will be greatly missed, he leaves a legacy that will last forever. Born in Detroit, Michigan in 1930, Robert was introduced to jazz music as a young boy, at the famed Paradise Theater. This led to his lifelong passion of music exploration, writing, and scholarship. Robert received his Bachelor and Master of Music degrees from the University of Michigan, his Master of Fine Arts degree from Princeton University and a 2003 Honorary Doctor of Music Degree from the New England Conservatory of Music. In 1958, Robert studied in Hamburg, Germany where he met and married his wife, composer Pozzi Escot. They settled in Cambridge, MA and Robert began his long career at the New England Conservatory. He taught composition and music theory as a faculty member and led as Chair of the Graduate Theory Department for many years. He continued on as Faculty Emeritus and taught his final students just last year. He was a sought-after lecturer, which enabled his family to travel the world extensively throughout his career. His compositions are performed by musicians world-wide. He wrote and published six books on music theory, two of which were collaborations with his wife. As a young and loving father, Robert took joy in spending time with his family and playing ping pong with his daughter. Later, with his granddaughter Annaka, Robert spent many hours in his study, learning as much from her as she was learning from him. Recently he said that his time with Annaka were some of the happiest moments of his life. Other cherished times included many large gatherings at home with friends, colleagues, and family. These dinners with Pozzi's amazing food and stimulating conversation were frequent and always memorable. In his last days, his passion for astrophysics continued as he sought to understand "what comes next" and he underlined the following in the July 1, 2021 issue New York Review of Books, All Things Great and Small, written by Priyamvada Natarajan: "According to Lucretius, while objects in the universe, ranging from the distant stars to life forms crawling on the Earth, are transient, their constituents — the fundamental seeds that make them up — are eternal." A memorial event will be scheduled at a later date. In lieu of flowers, a fund will be set up in his name to continue the legacy of his works.

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