Malcolm D. Benson died on January 1, 2015, in Ontario, California, of complications from pneumonia. He was 94. Born in Winchester, Indiana, on March 27, 1920, he served in the Army in New Guinea during World War II. He earned a bachelor’s degree in music from the University of California, Los Angeles, and a master’s in organ at the American Conservatory of Music in Chicago, where he studied with Frank Van Duzen.
He was an assistant professor of music at Wheaton College in Illinois where he met the love of his life, Phyllis J. Holzwarth; they were married in 1950, and their son Daniel was born in 1953. They moved to San Bernardino in the mid-1950s where he worked for the local school district. He earned a second master’s degree in library science from the University of Southern California and served as a public school librarian until the mid-1970s.
In San Bernardino, Benson served as organist at St. Paul’s Methodist Church, then as organist and choir director at St. John’s Episcopal Church, a post he held for 30 years. He was a member of the American Guild of Organists, and a subscriber to The Diapason since he was 19.
Malcolm D. Benson is survived by his son Daniel and his sister Eloise Nicholl of Pasadena.
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