Howard Webster Pancoast passed away peacefully at Lutheran Hospice Center in Wheat Ridge, Colorado on the evening of March 15, 2024. Howard was 80 years old.
Howard was born on July 2, 1943 to Adelaide (Birckhead) and Omar Borton Pancoast, Jr. He graduated from Sidwell Friends School and Haverford College, where he played on the tennis team and earned a degree in Music. He was drafted and served in the Navy during the Vietnam War.
A prolific pianist, composer, and piano teacher in the Denver area since 1970, Howard performed classical concerts, anchored numerous jazz combos, and led bands that played a variety of popular music all over town.
An affable and beloved teacher, Howard always encouraged his students and family members to play the music that interested them most as they advanced their skills in sight reading and improvisation. The monthly piano group he organized for his students started in the 1970’s and continued for decades until even after his retirement from teaching in 2023. Howard’s love of music was the central focus of both his life’s work and free time. He would get up in the morning to sight read Listz, Bach, or Chopin before taking his children to school, and sometimes he would even pop out of his recliner to play pieces during the commercials of Denver Broncos games.
Whenever he wasn’t busy playing piano, Howard was an avid skier and enjoyed reading fiction and playing bridge. He loved attending action movies with his children and friends. Howard liked to buy donuts hot right out of the Winchell’s fryer on his way home from late night gigs, and he was known to all for his friendliness and warmth.
Howard is survived by his wife, Karen, his former wife Valda and their children, Dorian Canelas and Tedric Howard Pancoast, Ted’s wife Brandy, and his grandchildren: Kaitlyn and Andrew Canelas; David, Jonathan, Amalie, Sophie, Opal, Connor, Webster, Mia, and Lucas Pancoast. Howard is also survived by his brothers and their wives, Omar “Buddy” Pancoast (Carolyn) and Taylor Pancoast (Mary), his sister and her husband, Joanna Duncan (Rory), his former wife Bonnie, and a large extended family. In lieu of flowers, please donate to the Shriners Hospitals for Children, PO Box 31356, Tampa, FL 33631.