The shadow of his smile: Remembering David Stabler * Oregon ArtsWatch

"Of the many things to remember about David Stabler, the one that keeps coming back to me is his smile, a wide delighted upturn at the corners of his mouth that set his moustache twitching and traveled northward to his eyes, which were in on the joke. Isn't life grand? it seemed to say. Can't we just scoop it all up?"

"He was a writer and a singer and a pianist and an outdoorsman and a husband and a father and a long-distance bicyclist and a Pulitzer Prize finalist and for close to 30 years the classical music critic for The Oregonian, from which position his elegant and insightful writing helped shape thousands of readers' understanding of the world of music and the nature of sounds."

"David and his brother Martin grew up in Middletown, Conn., in a house a few steps from Wesleyan University, where their father was a professor. He studied piano in Vienna and London after earning degrees in piano performance at the University of Western Ontario and the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York, and came to Portland in 1986 to become The Oregonian's classical music writer after beginning his newspaper career in 1981 in Alaska as music critic at the Anchorage Daily News."

David Stabler, 72, died Sept. 17, 2025, after months of acute myeloid leukemia. He was a writer, singer, pianist, outdoorsman, husband, father, long-distance bicyclist and Pulitzer Prize finalist. For close to 30 years he served as the classical music critic at The Oregonian, where his elegant and insightful writing shaped thousands of readers' understanding of music and the nature of sounds. He grew up in Middletown, Conn., studied piano in Vienna and London after earning degrees at the University of Western Ontario and the Eastman School of Music, began his newspaper career in Alaska in 1981, and moved to Portland in 1986.

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