Roger Bourland
writes about music and life

In life, some of us are fortunate enough to meet people who truly love people, and like to introduce people to other people. Angus Whyte has been that person in my life.

I first met Angus Whyte when he was working for Leonard Bernstein at Tanglewood in 1978. Lenny’s wife had just died, and Angus’s job seemed to be to help him through this and on top of that, to help him quit smoking. (Lenny ultiimately died of lung cancer through no fault of Angus.) Ever since then, Angus and I have been great friends. He is very good about staying in touch, and one of the few people I know who still writes paper letters. He is the hub and source of so many of my friends. I’ll be at a party and nearly everyone knows Angus, even though Angus lives in San Francisco and we live in LA.

I learned about having dinner parties from Angus. He can throw together a great meal with whatever he finds in in the house. He makes an irresistable paté. He loves to hike. He is a wonderful pianist and harpsichordist. He seems to know someone in nearly any town in the world - alright, that may be an exaggeration, but it very well may be true. He taught me how to make an excellent gin martini. And for the past decade, one of his passions has been the innovative and generous Art for Healing. He lives in San Franscisco with his partner Thom, and I am blessed to have such a friend in my life.