Robert C. Page, retired owner of the Classical Guitar Store, former English literature instructor, and Francophile, has died at 85
He was a staple on the local guitar scene for decades, and visiting performers would stop by his store on Sansom Street to pick a few strings and swap stories.
Robert C. Page, 85, of Philadelphia, retired owner of the Classical Guitar Store in Center City, ardent guitarist, former English literature instructor at Temple University, and Francophile, died Wednesday, July 26, at his home in Center City. He had been living with several illnesses.
A piano student in Detroit as a young man, Mr. Page picked up the guitar in the 1960s because it had “a warm and intimate tone,” he said in an interview with French magazine Guitare Classique. He was changing jobs in those days, he said, and guitars were more mobile than pianos. He never put them down.
He discovered classical guitars that feature nylon strings and mellow tones, bought the Classical Guitar Store on Sansom Street in 1973, and spent the next four decades playing tunes at home and the store, arranging concerts for other guitarists, and selling handmade classical guitars from France, Spain, Japan, Mexico, and elsewhere.
He embraced the internet as a sales tool in the 1990s, created a YouTube channel to display his inventory, and attracted customers worldwide. In an online tribute, Eric Zillmer, president of the Philadelphia Classical Guitar Society, called Mr. Page “an industry leader in the acquisition, selling, and promotion of classical guitars. … Buying a guitar from him was an adventure, more like a wine tasting.”
Mr. Page was past president and longtime board member of the Philadelphia Classical Guitar Society and received its 2017 Lifetime Achievement Award. In the early 1990s, he became an expert on nearly all things French, especially literature, music, and wine, and always seemed to have a dog-eared French dictionary at hand.
He was introduced to French guitars in 2007 and immediately enthralled by what he called the instrument’s “clarity of tone.” He traveled to France often, met with guitar craftsmen, and studied “their fine sense of aesthetics.”
“Putting together my two passions, for the guitar and for France, has been like a renaissance for me, both professionally and personally,” Mr. Page said in 2012.
He played his own guitars for a time at restaurants, cafés, and private parties, and for his children as they drifted off to sleep at night. He took lessons at the Classical Guitar Store when he moved to Philadelphia in 1966 to teach at Temple and said in 2012 that he got too nervous to play on stage.
Off stage, he mentored other guitarists, held impromptu concerts at his store, and described classical and jazz music as “an inexhaustible delight.” He was drawn to guitars, he said, for “the pleasure of hearing them sing.”
Zillmer said: “Bob was a compassionate, friendly, and irresistible soul, someone who on a very personal level created culture around music and guitars, which is not an easy thing to do.”
Robert Charles Page was born May 2, 1938, in Detroit. He was the oldest of four brothers and earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in English literature at Wayne State University in Detroit.
He worked as a newspaper reporter in Ann Arbor, Mich., for two years and taught English literature at the University of Maine-Orono and Temple from 1964 to 1972. He married Aldona Rastenyte in 1961, and they had daughters Lina and Indre, and sons Andrew and John. They divorced later.
Mr. Page took his family on memorable vacations to Maine and to Port Norris, N.J. He and his wife translated Lithuanian literature, and he spent two years as director of the American Language School in Kenitra, Morocco, in the early 1990s.
He went often to libraries and used-book stores in Philadelphia, and puffed his pipe on benches at Rittenhouse and Fitler Squares. He baked bread in earthenware bowls and delighted his children with delicious crepes for breakfast. He liked to hold court at dinner.
“I chose to devote myself to the sale of the musical instrument that I so much love because it is always more than just selling.”
He learned to dance as a boy from his mother and sang comforting lullabies to his own children. “Robert’s life was filled with the love of family, friends, literature, and especially, the love of all types of music,” a friend said in an online tribute.
His daughter Indre said: “My dad had a big heart. He didn’t always show it. But he was sensitive and compassionate. He made an enormous impact on my life.”
His son Andrew said: “He approached life like a connoisseur. He sought the best in music and everything he loved.”
In addition to his children, Mr. Page is survived by eight grandchildren, three brothers, and other relatives.
A celebration of his life was held Saturday, Aug. 5.
Donations in his name may be made to the Philadelphia Classical Guitar Society, 2038 Sansom St., Philadelphia, Pa. 19103.