Robert "Bob" Bell

1938 - 2025

News story
By Mike Sigov
Blade Staff Writer

Robert "Bob" Bell, a music performer, teacher, administrator, and president emeritus of Toledo Symphony, died Tuesday in Hospice of Northwest Ohio, South Detroit Avenue. He was 86.

The family did not report the cause of death.

"He was all of those things," said Zak Vassar, president and CEO of the Toledo Alliance for Performing Arts and a lifelong friend. "I always looked to him as kind of the connective tissue at the Toledo Symphony. His fingerprints are at the core of the organization, all of its operations and its story."

"Nobody can have a conversation today about the Toledo Symphony without also having a conversation about Bob," Mr. Vassar said. "And even though he's no longer with us, I don't really see how that's going to change."

Mr. Bell retired as the symphony's president and CEO in 2010 after several years on the job. Previously, he for many years was the managing director of the orchestra, where he was first hired in 1957 as a musician.

"Bob was a driven man," said Sally Vallongo, a friend and former Blade music critic. "He was driven to present music at its finest. He refused to settle for anything mediocre, whether it was looking for the new conductor for the orchestra, or a performer, a musician; he always sought the best."

Mr. Bell was also "thoughtful, energetic, and kind," said Pamela Kate Arnos, a longtime friend.

Judy Szor, a Toledo Choral Society member and past president and board member, said Mr. Bell was also "a hard worker who certainly loved classical music and the symphony."

"And he was just always very, very sincere about what he's doing, and he certainly always had the interest of the of the orchestra foremost in what he was doing," Mrs. Szor said.

The widow of Samuel Szor, the renowned Toledo musical figure who was director of the choral society until he fell ill with cancer, said her late husband was Mr. Bell's music teacher at Woodward High School when he was a student there.

In a joint statement, the musicians, staff, and board of the Toledo Symphony said they had lost "a beloved colleague, visionary leader, master timpanist, and the heart and soul of our institution for nearly 70 years."

"He was, in every sense, a builder," a Toledo Symphony statement reads. "Under his leadership, the Symphony's budget and artistic stature grew exponentially into a fine, professional orchestra. Bob fostered a spirit of collaboration that made Toledo a national model for labor relations in the performing arts."

Marna Ramnath, Toledo Alliance for Performing Arts board chairman, said in a statement "He was the heart and soul of the Toledo Symphony."

"It is safe to say that his dedication to the music, the musicians, and the community never wavered," she said. The gift of his life plays on in the orchestra that he loved."

In order to draw the public to the music, Mr. Bell and the late Andrew Massey, the symphony's music director, together had signed famous guest soloists and orchestras.

Those included the late Russian cellist and conductor Mstislav Rostropovich; flutist James Galway from Belfast, Northern Ireland; the sister violin act of Ani and Ida Kavafian; saxophonist David Sanborn; and such world-class ensembles as the Cleveland Orchestra, the Vienna Symphony, and the Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields.

In 1994, Mr. Bell received the Governor's Award for the Arts.

In recent years, Toledo Symphony recognized his legacy by establishing the Robert Bell Endowment and naming the Robert Bell Studio at the new Toledo Center for Live Arts.

Born Dec. 2, 1938, in Oakwood, Ohio, near Defiance, he attended Woodward High School, where in 1953 he became a percussionist in the school band conducted by Mr. Szor, who was in his first job out of college.

He told The Blade in 1990 how in 1953, he, a self-described lost high school freshman, discovered salvation behind kettle drums.

"I sort of grabbed onto music," he said. "That was my thing. I did stuff beside play: I hauled equipment. It gave me a tremendous amount of direction. I was 'the band guy.'"

His talent for the timpani first caught the eye of Mr. Szor and then conductors Edgar Sorten and Bill Long.

Mr. Bell played in both the band and school orchestra and at the same time at the Toledo Youth Orchestra, then - without a pause - at the symphony, then conducted by the Joseph Hawthorne.

Before long, Mr. Bell was playing percussion in the Toledo Youth Orchestra. After that came studies at the Cleveland Institute of Music.

Rising at 3 a.m. Saturdays to catch the bus to Cleveland, Mr. Bell studied for years with Cloyd Duff of the Cleveland Orchestra. He later studied music at the University of Michigan and then was hired at Toledo Symphony.

"It really was because of Sam [Szor] that that he became interested in music and pursued classical music," Mrs. Szor said. "And Sam encouraged him to consider becoming the manager of the orchestra back in the time before he did that."

He joined the symphony as a part-time timpanist.

He performed on the kettledrums, the xylophone, and other percussion instruments. His full-time job at the time was with the Dana Corp. sales department.

In 1970, he was named the orchestra's assistant business manager. Along with being timpanist, he had been music librarian since 1965 and personnel manager since 1967.

He was also a member of the music faculty at the University of Toledo.

Mr. Bell told The Blade in 1970 that the opportunity to play with the Toledo Symphony, to hold the other orchestra positions, and to teach private timpani students were the reasons he decided to remain in Toledo rater than seek employment elsewhere following his education in Cleveland and other musical centers.

Part of his job as assistant business manager was to hire musicians to perform with the orchestra, some as regular members, some for specific concerts. For those under full contracts, he worked with schools and colleges to find teaching positions necessary for them to remain here.

In 1978, then the principal timpanist with the symphony, was named manager of orchestra administration and personnel for the Toledo Orchestra Association, responsible for coordinating all operational functions of the orchestra.

About six years later, in May of 1984, he was appointed the managing director of the Toledo Symphony.

He told The Blade at the time he felt deeply about the quality of the orchestra, the excellence of its key members and "the lack of greater awareness of the stature of the orchestra."

And he acknowledged gratefully the dedicated individuals' community-wide support of the orchestra.

"I am very optimistic about the condition of the orchestra," he said at the time. "There are problems - there always are, but they are solvable. We have a great responsibility to perpetuate a special form of art, and we will pursue this goal diligently."

In his free time, he enjoyed running for exercise. He was also an avid bird watcher and a nature preservation enthusiast who especially cared about preserving wolf populations, Ms. Arnos said.

He was preceded in death by his brother.

Surviving are his daughters, Katie Byers, Lynn VanVoorhies, and Suzanne Macoviak; and several grandchildren.

Mr. Bell donated his body to the University of Toledo Medical Center.

There will be no service, per his wishes.

The family suggests tributes to Toledo Symphony, Nature's Nursery, or Wolf Conservation Center, South Salem, N.Y.