Barbara D. Westerberg

Age 81, of Pittsburgh, unexpectedly passed away on Wednesday, January 17, 2024. Beloved wife and best friend of Dr. Arthur W. Westerberg; loving mother of Dr. Karl Westerberg and the late Dr. Ken Westerberg; caring sister of the late JoEllen Martino; and of Robert Dyson and Julie Swartz and cherished daughter of the late Fred and Dorothy (Miller) Dyson. Barbara was born on January 19, 1942 in Brooklyn, New York and spent her youth in Farmingdale, Long Island. Barbara graduated from the Oberlin Conservatory in Music Education in 1963, specializing in the oboe. She attended the Mozarteum in Salzburg in 1961/2 for her junior year abroad with her Conservatory class, and it was on the ship crossing the Atlantic to Europe that she met her future husband, who was crossing to pursue a PhD at Imperial College in London. After marriage, she continued her education by obtaining a Masters degree in Music Education at the University of Florida, where she and her family lived for nine years. For the last 48 years in Pittsburgh, she taught music privately. She also taught for about three years in the music program at the Jewish Community Center in Squirrel Hill. In 1988 she had to give up the oboe for health reasons and switched to her second love, the piano. For about twenty years she served on the board for the Pittsburgh Music Society, and she did extensive volunteer work at WQED-FM, Pittsburgh's classical music station. She created and ran for a decade the Musical Teens contest, with WQED recording and broadcasting the winners. Her enjoyment, beside her family, was extensive traveling, having visited some 75 countries. She loved to cook, and she was a great fan of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. Memorial Service will take place at a later date. Please add tributes at www.beinhauer.com.