I was just informed of the passing of Jeffrey M. Morgan on December 30,
2020. Find his obituary here:

https://www.tributearchive.com/obituaries/19489980/Jeffrey-M-Morgan/BETHLEHEM/Pennsylvania/James-Funeral-Home-Cremation-Service-PC 

I first met Jeffrey while I was engineering some improvements to the
Taft-Peirce Ampico perforator owned by the Keystone Music Roll Company.
I had persuaded Richard Groman to let me ride along while he drove over
to a supermarket to pick up Jeffrey after he had been dropped off to do
his weekly shopping.

We entered the supermarket and found Jeffrey looking over the greeting
cards. His shopping cart was still empty and he had evidently spent the
whole time selecting a sympathy card for survivors of his friend, Larry
Givens, who had recently passed. I guess you could call this an ambush
because Jeffrey wouldn't normally be amenable to surprise meetings with
amateur restorers like me.

I introduced myself and somehow the subject of MIDI came up. I said
I thought the best use of MIDI was for driving a roll perforator and the
only way to achieve true fidelity on a reproducing piano is to operate it
pneumatically as per the original design. This must have struck a chord
with Jeffrey because he immediately opened up and talked non-stop for
the rest of the ride home.

I managed to inject a sentence or two about my Chickering Ampico piano
being restrung at John J. Zeiner & Sons piano shop in Allentown. I also
said I had just finished restoring the pneumatic components in my Ampico
drawer and had some photos I could show him on my laptop. When Jeffrey
spotted glue lumps on the tracking pneumatic in my drawer, my face was
as red as the motor cloth!

Then, an amazing thing happened! Jeffrey took me under his wing and
spent the rest of the day with me in his workshop. He demonstrated the
proper technique for applying just the right amount of hot hide glue
and how to use a warming tray and small steel blocks to remelt the glue,
eliminating all the lumps. He showed me his amazing collection of
original wood screws from the Ampico factory along with other things
too numerous to mention.

We exchanged phone numbers and I soon discovered what a prolific talker
Jeffrey could be. He must have been a little lonely or bored the first
time he called me. Despite several hints about my bladder, I had to
put the phone down quietly, and when I returned he was still talking!
The call didn't end until his voice gave out at least three hours later.

After Zeiner & Sons delivered the Chickering to my home I received
another call from Jeffrey with some pointers about how I should regulate
the stack to the key action. Jeffrey even said he could find the time
to come to Hyde Park and make some fine adjustments to the key action.

Alas, the Chickering project was placed on hold in 2010 while
I embarked on a new job as the electronics technician at Vassar College.
I'm retired now and thinking about restarting the project.

I learned Jeffrey was the first pediatric subject to survive open-heart
surgery for the specific birth defect his heart was diagnosed with and
the operation was performed by a notable female surgeon. He lived to
the age of 73 and he'd still be alive today if not for COVID! We are
somewhat surprised since he had begun having his groceries delivered
and rarely left his apartment.

Rest in peace, Jeffrey!

Larry Doe
Hyde Park, New York