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Phillip T. Young, who passed away on December 9th, 2002, was a professor in the School of Music at the ßÉßɱ¬ÁÏ for more than 20 years. For seven of these he was Director of the School. An accomplished bassoonist and teacher, Phillip was also a leading authority on woodwind instruments and their history. He truly loved and embraced many different styles of music, from classical to jazz.

Phillip was a gifted teacher whose influence is treasured by so many who worked and studied with him at UVic. He was also a real driving force in the early stages of our School of Music including the addition of its facility on campus. He served on the President’s Commission to chart the future of the university and was a strong advocate leading to the construction of the University Centre Auditorium (now the University Farquhar Auditorium, located in the Jamie Cassels Centre). He was also instrumental in the university adopting the now, world-renowned Lafayette String Quartet as our resident musicians.

During his lifetime, Phillip's achievements were lauded well beyond the campus of UVic. He was bassoonist with the Victoria Symphony and with a number of symphony orchestras in the United States. Phillip was also highly regarded internationally for his authoritative work in cataloguing, exhibiting and writing about historical woodwind instruments, with articles published in numerous national and international journals. The prestigious American Musical Instrument Society (AMIS) benefited from his involvement as both Governor and President, and Phillip was honoured by receiving the AMIS Curt Sachs Award as a scholar, exhibitor, collector, and educator. He was also a recipient of the Yale School of Music Alumni Award, and was chosen to receive an Honorary Doctorate from the University of South Dakota.