Roy Pritts—educator, musician, composer, author, administrator and recording engineer—died in Aurora, Colo. on June 20, 2007. He was 70.
Professor Pritts established the Music Technology/Recording Arts program at the University of Colorado at Denver in 1971 and was instrumental in founding the graduate program in Recording Arts in 2002. He taught audio engineering, electronic music and music composition until his retirement in May 2006.
During his tenure, Pritts served as the Resident Dean of the College of Music (now the College of Arts & Media at the University of Colorado at Denver and Health Sciences Center) from 1984-1989. He also taught audio engineering courses at the University of Massachusetts-Lowell, the University of Miami, the Institutes of Cinematography in both St. Petersburg and Moscow, the Moscow State University (Russia), the Technical Universities of Gdansk (Poland) and Prague (Czech Republic), Taller de Arte Sonoro (Venezuela) and the University of Lulea-Pitea (Sweden).
As a consultant in audio forensics, Pritts advised the Colorado Bureau of Investigation and numerous other Colorado agencies. He presented technical articles, papers and panels on topics in education, audio recording, acoustics, hearing damage and electronic music to the Audio Engineering Society, Society of Broadcast Engineers, Acoustical Society of America, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, the Society of Professional Audio Recording Services, Mix magazine, Pro Sound News, EQ magazine and Down Beat magazine.
Professor Pritts held leadership positions in the Audio Engineering Society, serving twice on the Board of Governors; chairing the Education, Membership and Admissions committees; serving as vice president of the Western U.S./Canada Region; and as president. His biography appeared in the International Who’s Who in Music and Musicians and in the Who’s Who in American Music.
The Pritts Collection of historical audio technology is on display at the National Center for Voice and Speech in Denver.
The family will receive friends on Friday, June 29, from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Horan & McConaty Family Chapel, 11150 East Dartmouth Avenue (at Parker Road) in Aurora. A memorial service followed by a reception will be held in the Concert Hall at the King Academic and Performing Arts Center, 855 Lawrence Way on the Auraria Campus on Saturday, June 30 at 2 p.m. For details, visit www.horanandmcconaty.com.
A scholarship will be given in Pritts’ honor to graduate students of audio in the department of Music Industry Studies at the University of Colorado at Denver. Donations for this fund should go to ARCS (Achievement Rewards for College Scientists), P.O. Box 6808, Denver, CO 80206-0808; please write “Roy Pritts Fund” on the memo line.
For more information, visit the University of Colorado at Denver and ARCS at www.arcsfoundation.org.
