“Norman C. Pickering, an engineer, inventor and musician whose pursuit of audio clarity and beauty helped make phonograph records and musical instruments sound better, died on Nov. 18 at his home in East Hampton, N.Y.,” writes Bruce Weber in Saturday’s (11/28) New York Times. He was 99. “Pickering flew planes and designed solutions to help mammoth passenger aircraft manage vibration issues. He played the French horn because a baseball injury to his hand upended his aspiration to be an orchestral violinist. He studied the acoustical properties of stringed instruments, and he aided ophthalmologists by developing an ultrasound method for identifying eye ailments…. In 1945, Mr. Pickering … developed an improved pickup—that is, the mechanism that includes the phonograph needle, or stylus…. Norman Charles Pickering was born in Brooklyn on July 9, 1916…. Pickering attended Newark College of Engineering … and after graduating went to Juilliard. In 1937, he joined the fledgling Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, playing three seasons in the horn section, and in 1940, he joined C. G. Conn (now Conn-Selmer) … where he helped design instruments, including a Conn model French horn that has been in wide professional use.” Survivors include his third wife, the former Barbara Goldowsky, a daughter, three sons, and two stepsons.
Posted November 30, 2015
