Kissane left arts legacy in Calabasas

Tony Kissane A beloved Calabasas High School teacher and local music conductor has died.

John "Tony" Kissane succumbed to cancer Oct. 6. The community is invited to a memorial in his honor this afternoon at the Calabasas Inn.

Kissane taught at Calabasas High School for 17 years. He was also a conductor with the Calabasas Chamber Orchestra, a 42-piece orchestra he founded in 1995 after many years conducting in Cincinnati, Stockton, Paris and elsewhere. Kissane also composed and arranged music, played in various jazz ensembles and organized numerous performances.

"He cared so much about the arts," his wife, Kathy Kissane, said. "His teachers, his students, the whole community—they meant everything to him."

Kissane was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia in 2005.

"He loved Calabasas so much," said Kathy Kissane. "We couldn't drive anywhere, we couldn't even go to Costco, without him commenting, 'Isn't this the most beautiful place to live?' His townhome in Calabasas was like his castle. He was a Calabasas boy."

Councilmember James Bozajian had known Kissane for nearly 15 years.

"He started just from scratch in a small town with few resources building up the Calabasas Chamber Orchestra," Bozajian said. "It really brought a sense of fine arts to the community. It kept expanding, and he had a vision that some day he would be able to offer it on a very large scale to the community instead of having just a couple small concerts a year. . . . I was just so glad he was able to see that his work at the grass-roots level kind of bore fruit after all these years. Now the music we offer . . . is the legacy of the community. That was what made him happy."

Bozajian said more than 500 people attend the concerts that Calabasas organizes.

"The fact that he got to see that before he passed was very satisfying," Bozajian added. "He did all this on a voluntary level, and there were a lot of obstacles, but he was really committed. He was very well thought of in the community, and I'm going to miss him quite a bit."

In 2006, Kissane began the Calabasas Spring Pops Concert at the Calabasas Lake, which has become a popular annual event. Bozajian said the next spring concert will be dedicated to Kissane.

"Everyone loves Tony, no matter where goes," said Kathy Kissane. "Even the parking attendant man (at the hospital) loved him. I fell in love with the most wonderful man, and I don't know how I'm ever going to get through this one. I really don't."

Kissane stepped down from his post with the Calabasas Orchestra in 2005 to focus on his fight with cancer. He came back last year. He had completed two of what he hoped would be three years of chemotherapy, and he was hopeful the disease would stay in remission.

Kathy Kissane said her husband had planned a trip to Europe in March of 2009.

"Tony didn't do death," she said. "He only did life. People would ask, 'Aren't you prepared (for his death)?' But we were in remission for two years, and we got so close to a bone marrow transplant, then he would relapse."

Kathy said a week before Tony Kissane died his doctor told him they had reached the end of the line.

"He said, 'Tony, you can go home and I can keep giving you transfusions, or I'll give you one more chemo and you'll be very sick. Go talk to Kathy, and let me know what you want to do.' He came home and told me, 'We're going to war again. I'd rather go down fighting.'"

But Kathy Kissane said her husband was in good spirits at the end of his life.

"Right up to the end we were talking," she said. "And he died with a smile. When we took off the oxygen mask, he was smiling."

In addition to his wife, Tony Kissane is survived by six children: Bill Ballerini, Joel Price, Lindsey Harrigan, Chris Cooley, Kari Cooley and Kirsten Cooley; and four grandchildren, Ryan, Ariel, Taylor and Renn.

Kissane was born and raised in Chicago, where he was introduced to jazz music at a young age and began playing drums. He received a degree in music from Illinois Wesleyan University and a master's from the University of Cincinnati.

The memorial is today, Oct. 16, at 4 p.m. at the Calabasas Inn, 23500 Park Sorrento, Calabasas.

For more information, visit www.tonykissanemusic.com.In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to City of Hope Hospital in Duarte, Calif.