Reimer, Bennett

Bennett Reimer (June 19, 1932 – November 18, 2013) was an American music educator. He held the John W. Beattie Endowed Chair in Music at Northwestern University from 1978 until retirement in 1997, where he was chair of the Music Education Department, director of the Ph.D. program in Music Education, and founder and director of the Center for the Study of Education and the Musical Experience, a research group of Ph.D. students and faculty. A native of New York City, where he was born in 1932, he was on the faculties of Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio (1965–1978) where he held the Kulas Endowed Chair in Music and was chair of the Music Education Department; the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (1960–1965); Madison College, Harrisonburg, Virginia (1958–1960); and the Richmond Professional Institute of the College of William and Mary, (1955–1957). He held the bachelor's degree in music education from the State University of New York at Fredonia, and master's and doctorate degrees in music education from the University of Illinois, where he worked with Charles Leonhard and Harry Broudy. He began his career in music as a clarinetist and then oboist. Reimer then became a specialist in the philosophy of music education, curriculum development, theory of research, and comprehensive arts education programs.