L. Gene Black, former professor, dean of music and longtime director of the A Cappella Choir at Samford University in Birmingham, died Feb. 25. He was 80.
Black retired in 2000 after a 35-year career at Samford. As choir director, he led singers on 30 international concert tours to Asia, the United Kingdom, Scandinavia and Europe. Under his direction the choir performed on stages in European cathedrals, the White House and hundreds of churches in the United States and abroad.
He joined the Samford faculty in 1965 as assistant choir director, and became director in 1966, a post he continued after being named dean of the school of music (now School of the Arts) in 1980.
A 1959 Samford graduate, Black once noted that he had enrolled at the school to sing in the choir, which he had first heard perform at his childhood church, Central Baptist Church, Decatur. He earned master’s degrees in music education and secondary education and a Ph.D. in higher education from the University of Alabama. He also studied choral music and conducting at Florida State University in Tallahassee and Columbia University in New York.
Black was featured in The Alabama Baptist in the Jan. 30, 2014, article on St. Olaf Choir’s national tour, which came to Birmingham.
Black served as minister of music at several Birmingham area churches.
He is survived by his wife, Faye, one daughter and three grandchildren.
(Samford)
Share with others: