From the OHS PC Database, derived from A Guide to North American Organbuilders, by David H. Fox (Richmond, Va.: Organ Historical Society, 1991). —

Samuel Koontz was a graduate of Baldwin-Wallace College of Berea, Ohio; he studied piano and organ performance. He was with the Lawrence Phelps firm of Erie, Pennsylvania; then with Organ Supply Corp. of Erie, Pennsylvania; and with Rodgers Instrument Corp., as an installer for a year. He was an organ technician on staff at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan by 1982; he relocated to Detroit in 1990 to form his own company, but continued as curator for the Hill Auditorium Organ. He died in 1992 at age 34. Staff: Paul R. Dickinson.

Sources:

• Organ Handbook 1980 (Richmond, Va.: Organ Historical Society), 32.
• Elizabeth Towne Schmitt.
• Organ Update "E. M. Skinner op. 820", The Tracker 31:3 (Richmond, Va.: Organ Historical Society, 1987), 15.
• The Tracker 36:4 (Richmond, Va.: Organ Historical Society, 199Y), 6.
• The American Organist December 1992, 44.

From Organ Database Builders editor Stephen Hall, September 29, 2019. —

Samuel Koontz, Master of Music, 1982 in organ performance died Sept 22, 1992 in Saline Michigan. Born July 7, 1958 in Conneaut Ohio, he graduated cum laude in in 1980 from Baldwin-Wallace College. He worked summers at Lawrence Phelps organ building shop and at Organ Supply Corp. in Erie, Pennsylvania. He earned money for graduate school by installing and voicing pipe/electronic combination organs for Rodgers Instrument Co. After obtaining his MM from the University of Michigan, he was appointed organ technician for the School of Music at UM.

He directed the cleaning and renovation of the Frieze Memorial Organ in Hill Auditorium, UM in 1984, and 1987. He also did restoration work on the 1928 Casavant at Sacred Heart Chapel, Marygrove College, Detroit; the 1923 E.M. Skinner organ at the Episcopal Church of St. John the Evangelist in St. Paul, Minnesota; and the 1931 Skinner organ at the Cathedral Church of Our Lady Queen of the Most Holy Rosary, Toledo Ohio.

Source:

• "Samuel Koontz" Music at Michigan Volumes 26-27. In Memoriam, 36. Accessed on-line Jan. 1 2016.