By now most of our members are aware that our dear friend and colleague Ernie Juhn died last month after a prolonged illness and hospitalization. His wife Ruth is experiencing extreme financial difficulties as a result, even in meeting such basic necessities as food and rent. Any contributions would be greatly appreciated to ease her dire situation. Do not send checks directly to Ruth Juhn, as these funds will be immediately appropriated by the creditors when the checks are cashed. A special mechanism has been arranged to get the money directly to Ruth. Please send all checks payable to

Ernie was one of the "founding fathers" of our Long Island-Nassau Chapter of PTG, and has been recognized as one of the most prominent piano technicians in the country with every award possible. He will be irreplaceable to our Chapter, and will be sorely missed for his boundless energy, dedication, knowledge, and sense of humor and witticisms. Ernie was truly one-of-a kind, a talented musician fluent in many languages with an amazing life story. He held the highest offices in the Guild both locally and nationally, and ran the Institute at numerous National Conventions, as well as serving as our chapter delegate to negotiate the politics on our behalf. It will be hard to carry on without him, and certainly there will never be another Ernie Juhn.

The general meeting for this month will be held on Tuesday January 14, 2003 starting at 7 PM (note: one hour earlier than usual) at the new Steinway & Sons showroom in the Fortunoff's Mall, Old Country Road, Westbury.

We expect to have an informative speaker from Steinway.

For those who didn't know Ernie Juhn, he gave of himself. When I approached him years back about joining PTG, he said he didn't need us, etc. I said, "But we need you". Eventually he did join us. He represented us and fought a constant battle as our needs were different on the Island and the East Coast compared to other parts of the country. His organizational skills for PTG conventions were unprecedented and used frequently. We had a store in Oceanside for a number of years and all expenses including the use of a telephone for PTG were paid for by sale of pianos that were rebuilt by students learning to rebuild. Ernie taught them their skills at no expense to them. While most of us were out earning money, Ernie was busy teaching gratis. I could go on and tell you more about his good deeds but I think you can appreciate what a fine person he was. We will sorely miss him.