Jon Howard Appleton

1939 - 2022

Jon Howard Appleton

Norwich, VT — Jon Howard Appleton was a composer, pioneer in electro-acoustic music, mentor, educator, Arthur R. Virgin professor of music emeritus, and Ted and Helen Geisel Professor in the Humanities emeritus at Dartmouth College. His dynamic personality, warmth, sense of humor, creativity, and curiosity touched and inspired the lives of many professionally and personally worldwide. He died with his children by his side on Sunday January 30th, 2022, at The Village in White River Junction, Vermont.

Jon Howard Appleton was born January 4, 1939, in Los Angeles, California. His parents were Florence Jacobs Appleton Walden, born in Philadelphia, PA, and Charles Leonard Appleton (nee Chaim Eppleboim) born in Kishnev, Moldova. Jon and his older brother, Michael Charles Appleton (9/23/1932-12/13/2017), were raised In Hollywood, California by their mother and their stepfather, "Sasha" Alexander Walden (nee Alexander Bomstein) from Ufa, Russia.

Jon, from the time he can remember, always wanted to be a composer and pianist. He studied piano with Jacob Gimpel and Theodore Seidenberg. Sasha, Jon's stepfather, was a double bass player in the Los Angeles Philharmonic and was influential in Jon's interest in music. Sasha encouraged him to compose, study piano, and took him to many concerts.

As a composer, Jon was largely self-taught. He attended John Marshall High School in Los Angeles and was elected student body president. Like his parents, he identified as a communist/socialist, and as a teenager he appeared in front of the Los Angeles City council and the Board of Supervisors to protest various causes such as smog, violent comics, and racial segregation.

He attended Reed College from 1957-1961, the University of Oregon from 1963-1965, and Columbia University in 1966. He joined the Dartmouth College faculty in 1967 and developed one of the first programs in electro-acoustic music. Jon and his former wife, Georganna Towne (1939-1996) and their two children Jennifer and Jason moved to Norwich, Vermont where Jon remained a professor for 43 years.

Jon's music falls into two categories: instrumental/choral and electronic music (electroacoustic music). He was a prolific composer and all of his collected works (such as music manuscripts, writings, publications, correspondence, recordings, videos, etc.,) are housed in the Rauner Library and the Jones Media Library at Dartmouth College in Hanover, NH. He is known as a pioneer of electronic music; a title that includes his invention of the Synclavier (the first digital synthesizer) with Sydney Alonso and Cameron Jones.

He was a tireless teacher devoted to many students— foremost at Dartmouth College, the Verde Valley School, Oakland University, the Moscow Conservatory of Music, Keio University, the University of California at Santa Cruz, Loyola University, the University of Hawaii, and many visiting appointments.

Jon was an avid world traveler, often jetting off to perform or teach, and loved immersing himself in other cultures. He spoke four languages other than English: French, Swedish, Japanese, and Russian. He was always plotting his next adventure. He had a plan to travel to Sweden a couple months before his death but was unable to because of his health. He was happiest when he traveled, composed, taught, or spent time with his friends and family. He had endless energy even as his health declined. Several days before his death, he was working with his editor on his autobiography entitled Out of Hollywood: A Composer's Life.

Jon was a devoted father to Jennifer Appleton and Jon Jason Appleton, both of Brooklyn, NY, and a wonderful grandfather to Natasha Towne Ruscoll and Willem Jude Appleton.

Knight Funeral Home of White River Junction is entrusted with arrangements and online condolences are invited at www.knightfuneralhomes.com