| The Baird Family |
The Music Library and Music Department of the University at Buffalo are located in the Frank B. and Cameron Baird Music Hall, known as Baird Hall. The building was dedicated on November 19, 1981.
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Frank Burkett Baird (1852-1939) was an early supporter of the University at Buffalo and received the University Chancellor's Medal in 1927 in recognition of this support. He was a successful industrialist who built the Tonawanda Iron Co., developed th e Hanna Furnace Co., and organized the Buffalo Union Furnace Co. Frank B. Baird was also deeply involved in civic activities in the Buffalo community, serving as president of the Chamber of Commerce and the Buffalo Club, and playing a substantial role in the construction of the Peace Bridge. The original Baird Hall on the South Campus was named in honor of Frank B. Baird.
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Cameron Baird (1906-1960), the elder son of Frank B. Baird and Flora M. Cameron Baird (d. 1960), founded the Music Department at the University at Buffalo in 1951 and became the department's first chairman. His musical studies included piano from an ea rly age, viola, composition with Paul Hindemith and Bernhard Heiden, and conducting with Bruno Walter and Felix Weingartner. He performed as a violist with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra for several seasons, founded the Buffalo Oratorio Chorus in 1930 , and conducted the Buffalo Schola Cantorum for ten years. In addition to his musical interests Cameron Baird also founded the Buffalo Pipe and Foundry Co. with his younger brother William C. Baird.
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William C. Baird (d. 1987) also had a long record of service to both the community and to the university. He was awarded the University Chancellor's Medal in 1978, granted an honorary doctorate of humane letters in 1984, served on the University Counci l for almost forty years, received the SUNY Distinguished Citizen Award, and was elected to the UB Athletic Hall of Fame in 1970. Among William C. Baird's many contributions to the University at Buffalo, two are evident in campus sites: Baird Point and th e Center for Tomorrow, dedicated to William C. Baird.
| August 2001
Music Library Staff musique@acsu.buffalo.edu http://ublib.buffalo.edu/libraries/units/music/baird.html |
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