Dorothy DeLay, one of the most influential violin teachers of the 20th century, died Sunday at her home in Upper Nyack, N.Y.

        Miss DeLay, 84, had battled cancer for more than a year.

        Miss DeLay nurtured an astounding number of virtuoso violinists in more than 50 years of teaching. Since 1974, she commuted monthly to the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, where she held the Dorothy Richard Starling Chair and was professor emeritus.

        She was the first woman to hold the powerful position of master teacher of great violinists.
       

Grandmother of instructors

        “For the last quarter of the 20th century, she dominated the violin teaching profession, and was responsible for the education of today's world-class violinists,” said Kurt Sassmannshaus, chair of the string department at CCM, and her former assistant at the Juilliard School in New York.

        Often described as grandmotherly, Miss DeLay was a mentor, confidant and even fashion consultant to violinists such as Itzhak Perlman, Cho-Liang Lin, Nigel Kennedy, Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, Sarah Chang and Midori, as well as legions more who perform in orchestras and chamber ensembles throughout the world.

        “What she did best was her system of teaching, which prepared the student to one day go out and perform without a teacher,” said former student Mauricio Aguiar, 30, a violinist in the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra.

        “Her loss is nearly indescribable,” said Douglas Lowry, dean at CCM, where she taught even as her health declined. Replacing her on the faculty, he said, will “take careful thought and consideration in the coming months.”

        Miss DeLay was born March 31, 1917 in Medicine Lodge, Kan. After attending Ohio's Oberlin College and Michigan State University, she went to Juilliard, where she became the assistant of esteemed violinist Ivan Galamian. She joined Juilliard's faculty in 1948. She was on the faculty of the Aspen Music School from 1970.
       

Accolades and honors

        Her honors included the National Medal of the Arts in 1994, the National Music Council's American Eagle Award in 1995 and Yale University's Sanford Medal in 1997. UC awarded Miss DeLay an honorary doctorate of performing arts in June.

        In January, Miss DeLay was the first recipient of Musical America's “Educator of the Year” award.

        She is survived by her husband, Edward Newhouse, a writer for the New Yorker; a daughter, Alison Dinsmore of Boston; a son, Jeffrey Newhouse of Bronxville, N.Y.; and four grandchildren.

        A memorial service is planned this spring at the Juilliard School.

        Memorials: The Dorothy DeLay Fellowship Fund at the Aspen Music Festival and School; or the Dorothy DeLay Scholarship in Violin at the Juilliard School.

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