James R. Lerch, Professor Emeritus of music, died Aug. 9. He served on the faculty at UNT from 1966 to 1992 as an instructor of violin and was coordinator of the strings area for 20 years. He previously was concertmaster and associate conductor of the Akron Symphony and founder and conductor of the Winston-Salem Symphony. He taught at Salem College, Baldwin-Wallace Conservatory, the University of Maine, the University of Akron and Tunghai University in Taiwan. Lerch was a violinist with the Carnegie Trio and a member of the Eastman String Quartet, the American String Teachers Association, Music Teachers National Association, Pi Kappa Lambda and Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia of America. He was a recitalist and chamber music performer in Texas, Maine, New York, North Carolina, Ohio and Virginia. Lerch earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the Juilliard School of Music, where he received a Juilliard Foundation Fellowship, and earned a doctorate from the Eastman School of Music. He was a U.S. Army veteran.