Influential Alabama music educator Johnny M. Long dead at 94

TROY, Ala. (AP) — A leading U.S. music educator and band director has died at his home in Alabama.

Longtime Troy University conductor Johnny M. Long died Monday after a brief illness. Long was 94, and an announcement from the school says he’d been in declining health for more than a year.

Long was a past president of the American Bandmasters Association and is a member of the organization’s conductors hall of fame. He served as Troy’s director of bands for more than three decades beginning in 1965.

Troy’s marching band performed at two presidential inaugurals during Long’s tenure.