Musician, educator, beloved brother, uncle, and friend, Scott Landvatter passed away on April 19th, 2022 at age 70 in Salt Lake. He is survived by a brother and 3 sisters and will be dearly missed.
Scott was born to Alfred & Bonnie Landvatter in SLC, Utah on December 21st, 1951. He had a great passion for people and music, attending the University of Utah studying Music Theory, Hindu-Christian studies, as well as Library and Information Science. While at the U of U, he was also the choir conductor at the Cathedral of the Madeleine for several years. After receiving his several Master’s Degrees, he found a home and community in Chicago.
In Chicago, Scott shared his knowledge with bright young minds as he taught math and science to 5th graders in public schools, creating fun labs where students could test scientific theorems in true environments. He eventually found himself immersed in his love of music as he took a position as Bibliographer and Librarian for Music and Dance at the University of Chicago Library.
Scott lived a life full of friends and family who loved him very much, including his parents, siblings, and many nieces and nephews. Memories of scary stories told in the dark and neighborhood pranks will be remembered fondly along with music written and shared and long discussions about life, culture and art. He changed many lives, and we are all better for having known him.
We want to give special thanks to his friends, work colleagues and ward family in Chicago who provided so much service, love, and support. We also wish to thank the caregivers at Highland Care Center in Salt Lake City.
Services will be held Tuesday, May 3rd, 2022 at 11:00 AM at Larkin Sunset Gardens, 1950 East Dimple Dell Road (10600 South), Sandy, Utah. There will be a viewing on Monday evening from 6:00 - 8:00pm and again Tuesday morning from 10:00 – 10:45am prior to the services.
To watch the services online, please click on the blue "Watch Services" button to the right of his picture. You will be prompted to sign into your Zoom account. To sign up for your own free account, visit the Zoom sign-up page and enter your email address. You will receive an email from Zoom (no-reply@zoom.us). In this email, click Activate Account.
In lieu of flowers, please send a donation to Primary Children’s Hospital.
Scott was a wonderful early childhood friend.
He made my miserable childhood much more bearable with the sunshine of his soul. I’m sure he was a joy for everyone to know throughout his life and really made the world a better place.
He was unforgettable and I send my extremely heartfelt condolences to his family and close friends.
I wish to extend my deepest condolences and sympathies to Scott’s family and friends. I had the pleasure and privilege of recently working with Scott at the University of Chicago Library for a few years. I will always remember his smile and kind manner to me and others. He made me a better person although I do not think he realized that.
May his memory be a blessing.
Susan Martin
Murfreesboro Tennessee
Formerly of Chicago
I met Scott through my friend Rock Cerant senior year of high school (2013). I was going through a rough patch at that time with my parents divorce going on and other normal teen stuff. The first time I hung out with Scott I felt a kind of warmth that no other friend has ever shown me. Through the years we became very close and I looked up to him as he became sort of a mentor to me. I was able to share with him thoughts and feelings that I told no one else because he would simply listen. I remember Rock and I would surprise him at his high-rise in Hyde park where we would relax, make food, and come up with our own lyrics to songs! Those are the days and memories I will never forget.
Rest in peace Scott. Love you brother! Thanks for everything you taught me over the years. Can’t wait to give you a hug on the other side!
Scott,
We can still hear the beautiful and dulcet tones of your voice and that wonderful laugh of yours. Brad and I were so privileged to know you. Anyone who met you was gifted immediately by your spirit your unquestioning love and kindness. Truly, the angelic choirs of Heaven have gained, while we have lost a beautiful voice, for a moment. We will miss you. God be with you until we meet again.
Scott was one of the kindest, most giving, and wonderful presences in our Music Department at the University of Chicago. We are saddened by his sudden passing. He went out of his way for every student and faculty member, working long hours, and always ready with a smile even despite his health problems in his later years. He made the Library into a truly humane place for twenty years' worth of students, co-workers, and faculty. He also went out of his way to take care of two young boys and to help steer them into adulthood. We would like to express our deepest sorrow to all his family and friends, and we will miss him enormously. RLK (William Colvin Professor, Dept of Music, Univ of Chicago).
To the family of Scott Landvatter:
We knew Scott during the time he lived in Chicago. His creativity, imagination and his joyful, playful approach to singing led Primary children to sing their best and to love him. Our children -- now adults -- surely did.
He encouraged and supported me as my interest in music increased: singing in some choirs that I organized; providing feedback on music I'd written; and even helping me with some music research.
Scott bore his many trials with patience and grace and gave generously to others. What a privilege for me and my family to have known and associated with him.
Joyce Beer
Scott was one of my favorite friends growing up. I remember our late night bike rides with our neighborhood friends.We would sleep outside in our back yards and would meet up and cruise the neighborhood I think we even made it down to
Sugarhouse Park a couple of times. Scott was always fun to be around and make us laugh. My sincere condolences to his family. May God be with you and bring you peace at this difficult time.
Sincerely, Vickie Eva Matheson
Scott's kindness made such a difference for me and many other grad students. He was warm and friendly and quietly supportive, and so deeply knowledgeable. I loved his measured way of speaking, and his gentle presence in the Reg. An immeasurable loss. My deepest condolences to his family.
Scott was truly a unique soul that lived a great life filled with love, joy, and kindness. He will definitely be missed. He was very intelligent, in fact the most intelligent person I know, he always made everyone around him feel comfortable and cared for. Words alone cannot express the goodness of this man and how he will forever remain in our hearts. He will be missed by many, but it's more important to celebrate him for the person he was and how much of an impact he had on each of our lives.
I worked with Scott in the children's primary in Hyde Park Chicago. He always came prepared with the most fun games to singing time and adjusted the songs for the audience we served. He was also very patient and kind even though I was aware he was undergoing alternative electronic treatments for some physical conditions. I think there was a lot below the surface. But above it all, he focused on others, stayed upbeat, and kept moving. He is an example to me. Had no idea he was in Utah (I live here too).
Scott was one of my best friends. When I move to Chicago 5 years ago, he was one of the first person to welcome me to the church. We became close over the last couple of years. His humility and compassion was so overwhelming and so natural. I would hang around with Scott just so some of those qualities could rub off on me.
Scott was a wonderful and valued colleague at the University of Chicago Library and his passing is a great loss. May his family and friends find comfort in the good memories of his gentle presence and in the hope that he now is enveloped in that "peace that passeth understanding". Requiescat in pacet et lux perpetua luceat ei.
To Scott's family and friends,
I had the pleasure of knowing Scott as a colleague at the University of Chicago Library. He was friendly whenever I ran into him in the building, and it was always a pleasure to see and talk with him. He had a great smile and demeanor that cheered up those around him, and that is a blessing. I will always remember his calm gentle presence. Please accept my sincere condolences.
I have known Scott for decades, and love and respect him. In his memory I share two brief stories.
When my oldest son made his first trip to Boy Scout summer camp, Scott was the anchor adult leader at the camp. I met him at the Church when he returned with a van full of tired scouts. I asked about the week, and he expressed gratitude that it was over. I thanked him and asked if he would like to try it again at some point in the future. He answered, "Perhaps in another life..."
Scott was Primary music leader numerous periods during his time in Chicago. One Sunday when he was leading the children's singing, Elder Dallin Oaks visited the Primary. Later Elder Oaks told me it was the best Primary singing he had ever heard. He asked what Scott's secret was. I replied that there were two important ingredients. (1) The fact that Scott was male changed the attitude of the primary boys, making them more open to singing. (2) But more important, Scott was the most inventive music leader I had ever seen. He loved music, he loved sharing that love of music and engendering love for music in others, and he loved the children, a fact which infused his directing and which the children could not help but feel.
Scott truly embodied the broken heart and contrite spirit exemplified in Mosiah 3:19, and will be missed by all who knew him.
To Scott's Family,
Thank you for making it possible to "attend" Scott's funeral service remotely. We are grateful to have been able to connect from Ohio, to savor memories and to be reminded of the many reasons we have such appreciation and respect for Scott. For decades he was an important part of our church community in Chicago, engaging old and young in uplifting musical experiences and sharing insightful, humorous stories that helped us see good things in the human beings around us. It would be impossible to overstate the importance of his work as bibliographer for music and dance at the University of Chicago Library. To be entrusted with the responsibility of building a collection of materials to support world-class scholarship is a singular honor -- and such a good fit for Scott's many strengths. It's no surprise to hear library patrons speak of the lengths to which Scott would go to support them in making good use of the collection -- so typical of his consideration for others.
Surely no one in this world saw the full extent of Scott's kind and generous service to others, but so many have been touched by his example. How blessed we all are to have known him.
Remembering our friend Scott , gone but never forgotten, you will be missed deeply and may you rest in eternal peace .
Scott was one of my best friends. When I moved to Chicago 5 years ago, he was one of the first person to welcome me to the church. We became close over the last couple of years. His humility and compassion was so overwhelming and so natural. I would hang around with Scott just so some of those qualities could rub off on me.
To Scott's loved ones: Please know that my heart aches that Scott is gone. Scott taught me a lot about music and love and being a christian.
I will sorely miss Scott's kind and gentle manner! Stepping into his office at the Regenstein Library always seemed to put things in perspective, no matter how difficult a day of research had been. He was genuinely interested in pretty much any kind of music, and conversations with him wiped away whatever frustration with bibliography or finding sources had brought you to see him. But he also shared precious nuggets of information like where he and the (then) boys thought was the best place to bike to watch a sunset or the fireworks over the lake.
Today I sat reminiscing about my years as a student at the University of Utah. My favorite class was Music Theory, taught by the brilliant Scott Landvatter. I found this obituary because I wanted to see if Mr. Landvatter was still teaching. I was a freshman in that class and I can still remember the students from 1983. Thank you Mr. Landvatter for teaching me to love music, to see the beauty and science of it. I wish I could tell you all these years later how fond I was of that class and how much I still use what I learned there.
To Scott’s family,
I stumbled upon this …
I knew and so loved Scott! He touched my heart with his love of music and his incredible sense of humor.
I knew him at Skyline High School in my music theory class.
You Landvatters had a dining table with those 1950 steel tubes. Unwanted vegetables disappeared in those tubes. Your mother cleaned the whole house up and down, and couldn’t figure out the source of that awful smell!!!!
Man, did we laugh about that a long long time . The Best!
Rest in peace my happy friend
thanks for all the laughs
I Honor You
Scott Landvatter was one of the best supervisors and mentors that I have had in my adult working career. During my year at the University of Chicago, Scott was a big brother, mentor, and friend during the time when my wife Tanya was studying for the Illinois bar exam and we were expecting Floyd Jr. 16 years ago Floyd Jr. was born on the campus at the University of Chicago Hospital, just 5 blocks from the library where I worked for Mr. Landvatter. Scott was smart, wise, funny, and such an amazing "prankster." Scott I will miss you brother, but your spirit of excellence and servant leadership will continue to inspire me forever. Rest in peace.....
Floyd Council
Executive Director
Jackson Hinds Library System