Dr. Larry Weiss

WINSTON-SALEM, NC – Dr. Larry Lister Weiss passed away on Tuesday, November 12, 2019 after a long struggle with Alzheimer’s. Dr. Weiss was born in Ohio on April 11, 1929 to Lister Oliver Weiss and Edna Mae Fetzer, both schoolteachers. Lister taught in Akron, Ohio at Buchtel High School in the Mathematics Department and was often quoted by his many successful students as being their best teacher, giving his students a firm foundation that they used and appreciated. Dr. Weiss had a very successful life as a musician, musical conductor and doctor in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, as well as Lee, Massachusetts and Delray Beach, Florida.  He initially graduated with a music degree from Wooster College in Ohio in 1952 and enjoyed and used music all his life. Dr. Weiss was once given a front page write-up in the Winston-Salem Journal about his life that was captioned “Doctor Sees Eye to Eye with Music in Winston-Salem”. In Winston-Salem, he was a church organist and choir director at Highland Presbyterian Church for many years. He also served as the musical director of the Winston-Salem Little Theater where he played the piano and directed the orchestra, producing many of the Rodgers and Hammerstein musicals to overflow audiences. During that same time, he was the rehearsal conductor for the annual Christmas production of the “Messiah”, usually given at Reynolds High School auditorium with 350 singers. Every year for 10 years, a prominent guest conductor was brought in for the final performance week of this production with name soloists.  Dr. Weiss also worked with the choir directors of the National Cathedral in Washington D.C., the Westminster Choir School and the Chicago Symphony. Dr. Weiss started accompanying many singers over the years by working with John Stein at Akron University when he was in high school. By the time he was admitted to Wooster College in 1947, he was an extremely competent accompanist. While at Wooster, he befriended Robert Shaw, who conducted and produced the famous Robert Shaw Chorale. Dr. Weiss worked with Mr. Shaw on the B Minor Mass which was given at Wooster with full orchestra and chorus. Shaw asked Dr. Weiss to tryout and become his accompanist with the Chorale. Due to the Korean War, that career opportunity did not work out despite a very successful tryout before one of the piano teachers at Juilliard where Shaw was studying at the time. Following his military service, Dr. Weiss graduated from Ohio State University College of Medicine in 1956 and finished a residency in Ophthalmology at Washington University in St. Louis, MO in 1958.  For many years, Dr. Weiss worked as an Ophthalmologist in Winston-Salem and was one of the first eye doctors to implant a lens in the eye after removing a cataract in North Carolina. Dr. Weiss is survived by his husband of 49 years, Jerry Bowles, whom he married in Massachusetts in September of 2008; three sons, Glenn, Tom and Jim Weiss; two sisters, Judy Cowell and Dorothy Follette; and many loving grandchildren, nieces and nephews. A Celebration of Life will be held at a later date. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to The Little Theater of Winston-Salem, 419 N. Spruce St., Winston-Salem, NC 27101. Online condolences may be made at www.hayworth-miller.com