Robert Michael Montgomery

"MICHAEL" was 77 years of age at the time of his unexpected death, at home. He is the beloved husband of Susan and the dearly loved father of Matthew (Beth), Rob (Melissa), and Dan (Kelly). Adored by his grandchildren, Michael is survived by Jacob, Ian, Zachary, and Max. Please join friends and family on Saturday, June 25th from 11:00 a.m. to 9 p.m. The family will host a memorial service and luncheon on Sunday, June 26th at 2:00 p.m. at the St. John Banquet & Conference Center which is located on the grounds of the St. John Armenian Church. The Center address is 22001 Northwestern Highway in Southfield (MI 48075). (Take the Northland Exit and turn right on Winona.) Mike had a lifelong passion for ragtime and traditional jazz, and an even greater passion for uncovering and preserving the history behind the music and its composers. An internationally recognized expert in the field, he was a treasured resource for other collectors, institutions and just about anyone who shared his interest in this great American tradition. Born on March 9, 1934 in Chicago, he developed an interest in music at an early age and started a lifetime journey of discovery when as a boy he happened upon a large collection of piano rolls in a neighbor’s barn. He quickly acquired the rolls and never looked back. After four subsequent decades of researching and collecting, he ultimately donated a large portion of his collection of over 20,000 pieces of sheet music of pre-World War II songs to the University of Michigan School of Music. A significant part of his legacy lies in a series of recordings he helped produce of piano rolls by important composers of the ragtime era including Scott Joplin, James P. Johnson, and Jelly Roll Morton, among many others. He was also known for interviewing and making recordings of Joseph Lamb, one of the great icons of the ragtime era, at Lamb’s New York home in the 1950's. He grew up an only child in Des Plaines, Illinois with mother Martha Anne and father Tom. After graduating from the University of Michigan in 1955 with a BA in English and following a tour of service in the Army that took him to Germany, he married his wife of nearly 50 years, Susan, and eventually settled in Detroit. Also a formidable piano player himself, starting in 1969 Mike was a regular performer at the Dakota Inn Rathskellar, a Detroit landmark, leading singalongs and playing the music he loved so much. A 40-year career at Michigan Bell funded his old-time music habit and also enabled him to raise a family of three musical boys. He took advantage of an early retirement offer in 1988 which enabled him to spend many years in happy retirement attending full-time to his life’s work. Please share your memories or thoughts in Mike's Guest Book.