Suso Gygax

Nini Baird, Doctor of Laws, honoris causa (SFU, 2015), former Director of the Centre for Communications and the Arts at SFU, sent these reminiscences to the SFU Retirees email forum and has graciously allowed us to post them here:

Suso Gygax, like many members of the Science Faculty, loved music. I often saw Suso and his colleagues at the weekly luncheon hour concerts.  Dr. Brian Wilson, when he joined SFU as Vice President Academic in 1970, appointed Suso to his Advisory Committee on the Arts, which had the mandate to begin discussion of long-range plans for the arts at SFU.   Two of the seven university representatives on the committee came from the Science Faculty.  They were joined by community leaders in the arts, including representatives from the VSO, the Vancouver Art Gallery. Intermedia , Burnaby Art Gallery,  the New Play Centre and the HR MacMillan Planetarium.

Purcell String Quartet, SFU's quartet in residence, made its New York debut at Carnegie Hall in February 1974.  The quartet's NY debut was arranged by Kazuko Hillyer International, which had been introduced to the PSQ by Nini Baird. Nini attended the Carnegie concert.  She wasn't the only one from SFU at the concert.  Phyllis Mailing flew from Toronto and Suso Gygax flew in from Philadelphia to give the PSQ their support. The Canadian Vice Consul Bob Grauer (a SFU graduate, I learned) hosted a party after the concert.  The Quartet's concert was well received. After the Canadian Consulate party, the Hillyers (Kazuko and her husband, the world-renowned violist  Raphael Hillyer), invited all of us, including Suso Gygax, to their apartment overlooking Lincoln Centre  where Kazuko cooked a traditional Japanese family dinner.