A few years ago, Paul John Stanbery, conductor of the Butler Philharmonic, endured chemotherapy, radiation and finally, proton therapy to tackle what began as a sore in his mouth that wouldn’t heal. The cancer was eradicated. An elated Stanbery was going to Carnegie Hall.

“Conducting your own music in Carnegie Hall after having beaten cancer – it just doesn’t get any better than that,” Stanbery told the Cincinnati Business Courier in 2018.

Unfortunately, cancer doesn’t always cooperate, and it returned. Mr. Stanbery died at his home on Feb. 6. He was 66.

He did get to Carnegie Hall to conduct his own “Music for Mass” in June, 2018. The performing forces included the Butler Philharmonic Orchestra Chorus in the choir of 200 singers from around the country and the New England Symphonic Ensemble. It was, for him, a personal and artistic triumph.

Christopher Scott Wyatt, who performed as tenor soloist in the Mass and is now director of the Butler Philharmonic Chorus, recalled, “We got a standing ovation and people were yelling. It was a wonderful climax and the audience loved it.”

As a result, the presenters, MidAmerica Productions, commissioned Mr. Stanbery to compose a new work to be premiered at Carnegie Hall in 2022, Wyatt said. “They wanted a patriotic work, in the powerful sense of people coming to America trying to fulfill the American dream.”

Mr. Stanbery became music director and principal conductor of the Hamilton Fairfield Symphony Orchestra (now the Butler Philharmonic) in 1995. At the time, the orchestra was in a decline. He built it up, grew its season, increased the scope and caliber of the youth orchestra, and established the Butler Philharmonic Chorus in 1997. In 2005,  his chorus was invited to perform at Carnegie Hall in Brahms’ “Ein Deutsches Requiem” under the baton of composer John Rutter.

In his programming, Mr. Stanbery’s support of living composers was noteworthy. One of the most memorable events was the 2010 residency of Ellen Taaffe Zwilich, the first woman to win the Pulitzer Prize in Music, whom Mr. Stanbery was able to schedule thanks to a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. It was also supported by the David L. Belew American Masters Concerts, a program he initiated.

The week culminated in a concert performance of Zwilich’s Symphony No. 4, “The Gardens” as the centerpiece of an all-Zwilich program. The composer recalled that week with the Hamilton Fairfield Symphony Orchestra with enthusiasm and affection, even though her music is performed worldwide by much larger ensembles.

“I could never forget a wonderful concert of my music that he conducted,” Zwilich said. “Paul was not only a fine musician, he was a person of real imagination. The concert featured my Symphony No. 4, ‘The Gardens,’ and he had an exhibit in the lobby of actual plants that were in the text!  Like many in the audience, I was moved by that display–what a nice and enriching experience it added to the performance. We will all miss him. I send condolences to his family, along with the thought that so much that he did is still with us.”

Mr. Stanbery has been an advocate for classical music throughout the region. He was founding conductor of the Blue Ash-Montgomery Symphony (now the Blue Ash Symphony) in 1986 and the Clermont Philharmonic in 1997, both of which are still flourishing.

He was the founder and artistic director of the Ohio Mozart Festival in Hamilton, the only festival of its kind in the Midwest. He introduced works by Mozart to citizens who might not otherwise be exposed to classical music.

Mr. Stanbery participated actively in the musical community of Cincinnati, serving as associate conductor for the Cincinnati May Festival, and worked with conductors such as Robert Shaw, Jesus Lopez-Cobos, James Conlon, Erich Kunzel, and Keith Lockhart, among others. He counted May Festival director of choruses Robert Porco among his mentors.

During that time, he was chorus master for Telarc recordings of the Cincinnati Pops, notably “The Hunt for Red October.”

For 19 years, Mr. Stanbery served as music director of All Saints Parish and School, among other posts. He was an active music educator, often composing music for educational concerts around the region.

A native of Toledo, Mr. Stanbery was a graduate of Bowling Green State University and took conducting classes at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music with John Leman. He told me in an interview, “I studied music education and bassoon, but I always had a yen to conduct and to compose. I studied privately with Wallace De Pue, who headed the composition department (at BGSU). I learned a lot from him, and kept my hand in it over the years.”

At the time of his death, Mr. Stanbery had almost completed his new piece, an oratorio entitled “The Golden Door.” It will be performed in Carnegie Hall in 2022, and will feature as soloists Wyatt, as well as the Grammy-Award winning soprano Jessica Rivera and baritone Thom Dreeze.

In one of his final posts on Facebook, Mr. Stanbery wrote, “It’s all about the Ellis Island experience of about 100 years ago. It’s quite a tale. I may not hear it live, but I’ll be there, floating above the Carnegie Hall stage, making comments and mainly glorying at the wonder if it all.”

His successor on the podium of the Butler Philharmonic, Scott Woodard, will conduct the concert.

Mr. Stanbery was a recipient of the prestigious Post-Corbett Award in 2005. Upon his retirement in 2019, he was named Music Director Emeritus and Composer-in-Residence for Life for the Butler Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus.

Mr. Stanbery is survived by his wife of nearly 25 years, Patricia, six children, 10 grandchildren, brothers Michael Stanbery and Fr. Stephen Stanbery;  sister-in-law Barbara Leach and mother-in-law June Jackson.

A family-only funeral mass will be held at 11 a.m. Feb. 18 at Immaculate Heart of Mary, and will be live-streamed at www.ihom.org. (click on picture of church, click on Stanbery Funeral.)

In lieu of flowers, please send memorial donations to The Butler Philharmonic Orchestra, One High Street, Hamilton, OH 45011; the American Cancer Society or the American Heart Association.