Mark Fax
Mark Fax (1911-74) was a native of Baltimore, Maryland. At the young age of 14, he found work as a theater organist playing to silent films and as a church choirmaster during Sunday services. Fax studied music at Syracuse University, Eastman School of Music, and New York University. Taking a teaching position at Paine College in Augusta, Georgia, he became the founder of the music department. Fax went on to teach at Black Mountain College before teaching at Howard University where he taught composers Dorothy Rudd Moore and Adolphus Hailstork. Fax’s catalogue is comprised of music for orchestra, chamber ensembles, voice, organ, piano, and includes two operas. He became Director of the School of Music at Howard in 1972 and held the position until his death in 1974.