When I forwarded Christofer Noering's post about Robert Heilbuth to Bob
Kates, I got this personal reply that he agreed to let me send to MMD.

 - - -

  When I took the organ job in 1965 at Calvary Presbyterian Church
  in San Francisco, Robert Heilbuth was Calvary's piano tuner and
  that is where I met him.  He was undoubtedly one of the fastest and
  best piano tuners I've ever come across -- really extraordinary.
  He and I were good friends for quite a number of years, and
  I visited him often at his home on 10th Avenue.  Quite apart from
  the piano tuning, the man was a genius.  He also was, and could be,
  a handful!

  I heard and played his big pipe organ many times.  It was very
  difficult to play, and held together with Scotch tape and
  paper clips so that you had to stop playing often while he fixed
  something.  Robert loved Bach and played it horribly.  The organ
  really was a pile of junk.

  His band organ had a lot of pipe work in it that we gave him.
  He was an excellent voicer, and fearless at re-working pipes.
  I loved the band organ.  He composed most of the music for it, in
  the Viennese style mainly, and both his composing and execution in
  making the rolls was amazing.

  Robert was a very demanding friend and took a lot of time, so as
  I got busier and busier at work I regrettably drifted out of his
  orbit.  When he died there was the most extraordinary and graphic
  obituary I've ever read, which I saved and subsequently lost in one
  of my moves.

  Bob Kates

 - - -

I wonder if this is the obituary that Bob is referring to:

http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Robert-Heilbuth-eccentric-composer-3188736.php 

I wonder, too, what happened to Robert's instruments, including his
Steinway grand and, for that matter, his house.  If the story is ever
uncovered, I'd really like to hear it.

Dave Schutt
San Jose, California

 [ Bob Kates was a partner in Pacific Organ Builders, formed in 1955,
 [ which was soon renamed Swain & Kates, Inc., of San Francisco.
 [
 [ An entertaining article and photo of Robert Heilbuth is at
 [   http://www.mmdigest.com/Pictures/heilbuth1.html 
 [ Two lively Heilbuth compositions for his band organ are heard at
 [   https://app.box.com/shared/1hhuo1donc  and
 [   https://app.box.com/shared/eqyxk5kgkq 
 [ -- Robbie