MUNCIE, Ind. - Robert Hargreaves, director emeritus of the Ball State University School of Music and founding conductor and musical director of the Muncie Symphony Orchestra, died Sept. 12 in Ball Memorial Hospital. He was 86.

Hargreaves was the School of Music’s director from 1945 to 1981 and founded the Muncie Symphony, serving as conductor and musical director for 33 seasons. The symphony recently marked its 50th season and will dedicate its Sept. 30 concert to Hargreaves.

In 1968, during his 20th season with the Muncie Symphony, he was honored with a commemorative work composed by Edmund Haines and performed by the symphony. Hargreaves also founded the Bloomington-Normal Symphony Orchestra in Illinois.

At Ball State he began the Summer Chamber Music Festival, which celebrated its 50th anniversary in 1996 and is believed to be the longest-running continuous university-affiliated series of its kind in the country.

Hargreaves received Ball State’s Outstanding Faculty Service Award, and Ball State’s music building is named for him. He was named a Sagamore of the Wabash by Gov. Frank O’Bannon in 1998.

The Sagamore nomination letter said Hargreaves was committed to both the performing arts and education. He strongly felt that music education included all aspects of music. He was adamant that students achieve their potential as performers, and many of the students who graduated from Ball State during his tenure continue to shape music education in Indiana’s public schools.

Hargreaves was born in Lancashire, England, in 1914 and came to the United States at age 8. A naturalized U.S. citizen, he obtained his master of music and Ph.D. from Eastman School of Music and received specialized training at the American Music Camp, Cheboygan, Mich., and L’Ecole Monteux, Maine.

Before joining the Ball State faculty, he was a professor of music education and graduate studies director at Illinois Wesleyan University. Before that he was a teaching fellow at Eastman School of Music, Rochester, N.Y.

In 1965 Hargreaves was named permanent chairman of the Graduate Commission of the National Association of Schools of Music. He was elected president of NASM in 1966 and received a plaque for distinguished service in 1967 from the association, the first such citation awarded by the official accrediting agency for music at the collegiate level.

He also served as president of the Indiana Division, American String Teachers Association; chairman of the ASTA’s National Research Commission; chairman of the North Central Music Educators National Council’s Committee on School-Community Music Relations; delegate for the Indiana Teacher Education Workshop; and examiner for the National Association of Schools of Music, North Central Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools and the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education.

Hargreaves was a guest conductor for orchestras around the state and country, including the All-Indiana College Orchestra for the Indiana Music Education Association, the Kentucky All-State Orchestra, the String Symphony of the American Symphony Orchestra League National Convention, the Indianapolis Philharmonic Orchestra and the Chicago Chamber Players.

In 1967 he was guest speaker with Aaron Copland at the 100th anniversary observance of the Oberlin Conservatory of Music’s affiliation with Oberlin College.

A frequent contributor of articles to music magazines and journals, Hargreaves served as editorial associate for the Journal of Research in Music Education and wrote a series of articles for the Indiana Musicator.

He received grants from the Rockefeller Foundation, Kullas Foundation, ASCAP and the American Symphony Orchestra League for advanced study of conducting under Eugene Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra, Alfred Wallenstein and the Los Angeles Philharmonic and George Szell and the Cleveland Orchestra.

Upon retirement from Ball State, Hargreaves and his wife of 62 years, Katherine "Katie" Hargreaves, resided in Bradenton, Fla., where he served as an officer in the Coast Guard Auxiliary.

Memorial services will be at 1:30 p.m. Sept. 28 in Elm Ridge Funeral Home, Muncie. Memorials may be sent to the Robert Hargreaves Music Scholarship Fund, Ball State University Foundation, Account A05762.

(Note to Editors: Download a print-quality photo of Hargeaves.)