RPMDA Remembers Bill Stonier

December 30, 1935 - December 4, 2012 

Longtime RPMDA member and 2012 Dorothy Award honoree Bill Stonier died on December 4th after a lengthy illness, just a few weeks short of his 77th birthday. A professional saxophonist and music educator, he joined Northwest Music in Vancouver, BC, Canada soon after the company was founded in 1968, and quickly found his niche. He made a tremendous impact on the Canadian music industry as an innovative and energetic retailer who made his own opportunities. At one point he bought a retired city bus, filled it with band music and drove from school to school across the country as Canada's first and only mobile music store. Bill and his wife, Maureen, pictured here at one of their favorite spots, Butchart Gardens in Victoria, BC, were adventurous travelers, especially when a train was involved. No grass grew under Bill's feet. Always the gracious host, Bill was the chief organizer and cheerleader behind RPMDA's 1997 convention in Vancouver, still remembered by those lucky enough to have attended as their favorite convention trip ever. Bill was retired from day to day operations at Northwest Music, where his and Maureen's son Jeff Stonier is now president and general manager. The store remains true to Bill's founding vision as "a company for musicians, run by musicians." He was one of a kind and we will miss him.

You can view and listen to Bill's 2004 NAMM Oral History interview at http://www.namm.org/library/oral-history/william-stonier.