Death

Marilyn Pflederer Zimmerman

Marilyn Pflederer Zimmerman, professer of music education,
died Feb. 15 at Carle Foundation Hospital, Urbana. She was
65.

She graduated from Illinois Wesleyan University in 1951 with
a bachelor's degree in piano and music education. She earned
a master's and a doctorate, both from the UI, in music
education.

Her teaching career began with three years of elementary and
junior high school general music instruction, followed by a
year at Illinois Wesleyan. She then served on the faculty at
Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, before joining
the UI faculty in 1959. In 1964, she left for Northwestern
University, where she remained until 1968, when she returned
to the UI.

She also was a visiting professor at Illinois State
University, the College-Conservatory of Music at the
University of Cincinnati, Pennsylvania State University and
the University of Victoria. She was the director of the
Music Education Graduate Program at Temple University from
1978 to 1979 and was the Distinguished Flora Stone Mather
Visiting Professor at Case Western Reserve University in
1980-81. In 1987, she returned to the School of Music until
taking a disability leave in 1993.

Zimmerman was known for her research in music education with
emphasis on early childhood education and the study of
cognitive influences on the musical learning of children.

She was editor of the Bulletin of the Council for Research
in Music Education and on the editorial review board  of the
Quarterly Journal of Music Teaching and Learning.

Survivors include her husband, Vernon, former dean of the
College of Commerce and Business Administration and director
of the Center for International Education and Research in
Accounting; and a sister.