Classical Music Expert Dies

Gerald J. Canter, 1933-2009, NU professor, avid collector of classical music records Northwestern speech pathology expert started a mail-order business for classical music buyers


By Trevor Jensen | Tribune reporter


Gerald J. Canter started a mail-order classical music record business after his retirement from Northwestern University, where he had been a professor of speech pathology, and for many years had organized an annual records show for fellow collectors.

Dr. Canter, 76, died of esophageal cancer on Saturday, Feb. 7, in his Evanston home, said his wife, Susan.

Rows of metal shelves in Dr. Canter's basement held perhaps 40,000 vinyl records, and he also owned an untold number of compact discs, his wife said. All were neatly cataloged by record label, and most were in pristine condition.

In 1992, Dr. Canter started The Classical Collector. At first a mail-order business, later moving to the Internet, the home business allowed Dr. Canter to make a living out of his hobby. With the help of his wife, he distributed catalogs to a couple of thousand customers around the world, and packed and shipped records to order.

Dr. Canter started the Midwest Classical Record Show in the mid-1980s. The show attracted dealers from around the Midwest to sell, buy and trade classical recordings, CDs and reel-to-reel tapes.

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