IN LOVING MEMORY

It is with great sadness that I share with you that Resident Teaching Artist and longtime faculty member Tim McCullough passed away on Monday, November 22, 2021.

We honor the life and legacy of Timothy Rufus McCullough, pianist, artist, and educator, who passed away suddenly on November 21, 2021. The loss was tremendous to the Bloomingdale community, as well as the New York City music community as a whole.

Tim McCullough was born in Cardiff, Wales, into a very musical and artistic family. He began to study piano as a child, with his first teacher being his father, Charles McCullough. He named his father among his earliest musical influences. In 2019 Tim shared, “I am fortunate to have a father who is a very accomplished pianist. By the time I was about six weeks old, I had already heard a whole host of beautiful piano literature. As a result, I grew up swimming in the sound of piano music.”

At age eight, his family relocated to Dallas, Texas. He studied music at the University of Texas at Austin and later moved to New York to pursue graduate piano studies at the Manhattan School of Music. Although Tim also studied trumpet and viola in high school, he “always seemed to drift back to the piano.”

Tim channeled his passion for music into his students. His greatest strengths as an educator were his patience, kindness, and ability to create a solid musical foundation with students of all ages and abilities. Many parents have spoken about how they not only considered Tim to be their child’s teacher but a friend as well. In addition to teaching private lessons at Bloomingdale, Tim accompanied student performances and auditions for over a decade. He impacted the lives of hundreds of people that have passed through the doors of our school. One family shared, “Tim is irreplaceable, but I guess you know that.”

Bloomingdale is proud to partner with the McCullough family, Tim’s mother Juliette and his sister Franceska, to offer the Timothy Rufus McCullough Scholarship Fund beginning this fall. His family shared, “Tim loved teaching and performing. This scholarship would make him very happy to know that it could help a student with a passion for music.” By providing students access to high-quality music education, we hope to uphold his legacy of connecting budding musicians with the power of music.

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy can be shared by clicking here.

With love and gratitude,

Erika

RSVP for A New Bloom Honoring the Legacy of Timothy McCullough