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The following story is being republished to correct the photograph.
Dyne Pfeffenberger was a beloved Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne professor and a talented organist, pianist and author, friends of the 71-year-old said.
He died Wednesday after falling in his home about a week before.
Pfeffenberger will likely be best remembered for saving Embassy Theatre. He was an original member of the Embassy Theatre Foundation, which raised money to buy the theater in 1975 and rescued it from ruin, said Kelly Updike, executive director of Embassy Theatre.
"It wouldn’t be around if Dyne hadn’t been part of that group," she said.
Pfeffenberger’s relationship with the Embassy began in 1956 when he played on stage with local legend Buddy Nolan. His love of playing the Embassy’s 1,300-pipe Grande Page Organ motivated him to join a handful of others and raise money for the historic theater. He was on the foundation’s board for many years before taking a position as its historian, Updike said.
Near the end of his life, he spent several years compiling and writing "The Historic Fort Wayne Embassy Theatre." The 120-page recounting of the history and legacy of the theater was published in late May – just more than a month before his death, Updike said.
The book is available for purchase at the theater’s box office and from the Embassy’s Web site, www.fwembassytheatre.org.
In addition to his work with the Embassy, Pfeffenberger worked for nearly two decades as the chairman of the Department of Accounting and Finance at IPFW, former chair Stanley Davis said.
As a professor, he was devoted to his students and always made time to sit and talk with them, Davis said.
"He won almost every teaching award imaginable here on campus," Davis said. "Students loved him."
The funeral service is 10 a.m. Monday at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, 1122 S. Calhoun St., with graveside services at 3:30 p.m. at St. Mary’s Catholic Cemetery in Celina, Ohio. Calling will be from 2 to 5 p.m. and 7 to 9 p.m. Sunday at D.O. McComb and Sons Funeral Home, 4017 Maplecrest Road.
Calling is also an hour before funeral services Monday at the church.
