Obituary of Max Edward Morath

Max Morath was born October 1, 1926 in Colorado Springs, and died June 19, 2023 in Duluth, Minnesota. He grew up in Colorado Springs, where his first job as a 17-year-old radio announcer at KVOR in that city launched his professional life in media and theatre. 

As a child he studied piano and harmony, while mastering the rudiments of ragtime piano from his mother. He graduated from Colorado College in 1948 with a B.A. in English, and from the Stanford-NBC Radio and Television Institute in1951. Jazz and broadcasting jobs in Florida, Dallas, and Phoenix, combined with his appearances as pianist and musical director for melodrama companies in Cripple Creek and Durango, Colorado, led to his lifelong career as an entertainer/spokesman for ragtime and American popular song. During 1959-1961 he wrote, performed, and co-produced 28 television programs for PBS (then NET), which are now considered genre classics. The Ragtime Era traces the development of the popular music of that period; the Turn of the Century series deals with the interaction of popular music with the nation’s social and political fabric.

Max and his growing family moved to New York around 1963. He made his nightclub debut at the historic Blue Angel that year, followed by an extended run in 1964 at the Village Vanguard with his Original Rag Quartet. Television activity continued on PBS, and on the Bell Telephone Hour, Today, and The Tonight Show; radio appearances included many years as a frequent guest of the Arthur Godfrey Show on CBS, and on National Public Radio (NPR). In the theatre, his one-man show Max Morath at the Turn of the Century was a critical success in 1969, enjoying a four-year national tour. Other productions followed: The Ragtime Years, Living a Ragtime Life, and Ragtime and Again. By the time Max retired from touring in 2005, he had logged over 5,000 live performances in theaters, clubs, and colleges.

At age 70 Max earned a Master’s degree in American Studies from Columbia University. His thesis explored the life and work of the American composer Carrie Jacobs-Bond, followed in 2008 by publication of his novel I Love You Truly (iUniverse 2008), based on her life. His other writing credits include The NPR Curious Listener’s Guide to Popular Standards (Penguin 2000); The Road to Ragtime, with his wife, the photographer Diane Fay Skomars (Donning 1999); the musical play Trust Everybody…But Cut the Cards, based on the newspaper columns of Finley Peter Dunne; Mr. Dunne’s Mister Dooley, a 65,000-word book (2019) sub-titled Translating Mister Dooley, which contains extensive rewrites of the original Dooley columns (1893-1915), the Irish dialect removed; and the musical One for the Road, co-produced in 1982 by the St. Louis Repertory Theatre and MUNI Opera. Max’s many recordings, primarily on the Vanguard label, include The Best of Scott Joplin, The Ragtime Women, and Jonah Man; The Ragtime Man (Omega); and many other recordings incorporate Max’s compositions for piano, including “The Cripple Creek Suite,” “Golden Hours,” “One for Norma,” “One for Amelia,” and “Three for Diane.” Max was the initial recipient of the Sedalia, Missouri Scott Joplin award. He has been named as a distinguished alumnus of Colorado College, and in 2016 he was inducted into the Colorado Music Hall of Fame. His screenplay “Blind Boone,” written in collaboration with Moss Hall, received first-place recognition at the Nashville Film Festival in 2015.

Max’s last performance as an entertainer was his role in a four-day tribute to composer Irving Berlin in New York, 2006. At age 91 he concluded his second career as a lecturer at the Sacramento Ragtime Festival in November 2017.

Max Morath was preceded in death by his parents Gladys (Ramsell) Morath and Frederic Palmer Morath, his brother Frederic Ramsell Morath, and Norma Loy (Tackitt) Morath, his wife of 39 years. Survivors include daughters Kathryn Annette Morath (Robert Wagner) and Christine Lee Mainthow (Michael Mainthow;) son Frederic Loyd Morath and daughter-in-law Paula Sue Morath; Diane Fay Skomars, his wife of 30 years, and her daughter Monette Fay Magrath Macdonald (David Macdonald); grandchildren Jordan Claire Wagner, David Lee and Eric Robert Mainthow, Malia Lynn Morath, Finley Fay Margaret Macdonald; and great-grandson Edward Ke’eluohilohanakahi Kehaoha Jr.

The family wishes to thank the good people of Aftenro Home and Essentia Hospice for their tender, loving care. Max will be remembered for his generous heart, positive spirit, and irrepressible charm. Gifts in his memory may be made to the Max Morath Music Scholarship, Fisk University, Nashville TN.

The funeral service will be Thursday, June 29 at 1 pm (CDT) at First Lutheran Church Duluth. The service will be livestreamed at: https://www.flcduluth.org