Melvin Weil Obituary

Weil, Melvin S. "Bud" Melvin Weil died at his apartment in Chicago on May 31, 2009. He had been diagnosed with renal failure years before and had refused dialysis. Like the humorist Art Buchwald he outlived his physicians' expectations. He was 91. A veteran of World War II, Mr. Weil participated in battles and campaigns in Ardennes, the Rhineland, Central Europe and Northern France. He landed on Normandy a few days after D-Day, and worked as a field dental technician. Known to his friends as "Bud", he left high school for art school. In the late 1940s, 1950s and '60s he played clarinet and saxophone in swing and jazz bands. Bud was a close friend of Bud Freeman, famous jazz musician of the Austin High Gang, which Benny Goodman joined. Mr. Weil arranged music for a band of friends with whom he played jazz. He was a sculptor and painted in various media. He made a living as a commercial artist. Bud never married, but had close relationships with his family, particularly his brother and nephews. He was close to friends whom he had met through his activities in art and music. Although Jewish, he was an active officer in the Wagner Society. Conceding that Wagner was an anti-Semite, he still felt the composer was a musical genius. Although he had not attended college, Mr. Weil was fully self-taught in many disciplines. He taught himself German to better appreciate Wagnerian opera and attended Wagner's Ring of the Nibelungen cycle seventeen times. He is survived by several friends including his dear friends Madeline and Jerry, his cousin Bill and his nephews Jeff and John.