Jacob Stern (1934–2025)

The work of the late composer Jacob Stern, who passed away in July 2025 at the age of 91, was distinguished by proficiency and range. A five-decade career was devoted to composing serious modern music and scores for theater, television and film (see résumé) He enjoyed premieres in New York, Dublin and Moscow, and wrote four symphonies, four concertos, two cantatas, and numerous solo and chamber works. (View a list of Stern’s classical commissions.)

Stern’s music awards include nine Cine Gold Eagles, a Golden Palm from the Venice International Festival, the Silver Award from the New York International Film Festival, and being designated Featured Composer at the 9th Annual Composers Symposium.

At Mannes College of Music, Stern taught composition for film and TV for 19 years, as well as gave private instruction. For a time, he also ran Mannes’s Extension Division and taught music theory and history at Tucson’s Pima Community College.

Born in the Bronx and raised from the age of 12 in Tucson, Stern graduated from the University of Arizona, where he studied under Barney Childs, Robert McBride and Stanley Wolfe. He spent much of his career working in New York City and living in the Hudson River town of Ossining. Married for 65 years to the artist Jean Stern and raising two children, they resettled in Tucson in 1995 in order to be close to family.

In his last years, Stern continued to devote himself to writing music. While life for the most part quieted down, in 2024 the BBC spent four days interviewing him about the making of The Secret Army, a documentary about the IRA for which he had written the film score, on site in Belfast at the start of the Troubles.

Predeceased by his beloved wife Jean, who died in January of 2025, he is survived by his son Alex Stern, daughter Emily Düwel, son-in-law Matthias Düwel, and grandsons Ethan and Asher Pressman Stern.