Youngstown 'reformer and battler' passes away

YOUNGSTOWN — Community activist and renowned clarinetist Robert Fitzer lost his battle with pancreatic cancer Wednesday.

According to his Youngstown State University faculty profile, Fitzer was a development adviser to Youngstown Mayor Patrick J. Ungaro, president of the Citizens’ League of Greater Youngstown, a member of the Mahoning County Democratic Party's Executive Committee, chairman of the Wick Park Model Neighborhood Project and a trained volunteer crisis counselor at Help Hotline Crisis Center.

He was a full-time faculty member at YSU's Dana School of Music, where he taught clarinet. Fitzer made his Carnegie Hall debut at 19 and was principal clarinetist of the Cleveland Lyric Opera Orchestra, Playhouse Square Orchestra of Cleveland, the Warren Philharmonic Orchestra and the Greenville, Pa., Symphony Orchestra.

Dr. William Binning, chairman of YSU's political science department, said Fitzer's death was "a tremendous loss on several fronts."

Binning and Fitzer developed and hosted the weekly local radio show "Commentary Cafe" on WYSU-FM from 1995 to 2001, which Binning said is how they became "good friends."

"There's really two losses. The first is hard for me to measure and that was the fact that he was a brilliant musician ... and teacher of music," Binning said. "Secondly, he was courageous in his public battles — none of which were self-serving. He didn't get anything out of them except for satisfaction."

Binning described Fitzer as "a reformer and battler." He said Fitzer had decreased his amount of public service after accepting a full-time teaching position at Dana and because of his illness.

According to the profile, Fitzer was the son of James and Dolores Fitzer who were also Dana School faculty members.