| Robert G. Koch, famed for 20 years of twice-weekly arts and cultural interviews for WXXI-FM, has received the 1996 Community Recognition Award from the College of Liberal Arts. The annual award goes to individuals who encourage and support liberal arts in the Rochester community.
Born in Rochester in 1922, Koch was honored for exemplifying the community involvement and cultural arts promotion that the college seeks to instill in students. "He is one of those individuals who enriches and |
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| Dean William Daniels talks with Robert G. Koch. |
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| enlivens the experience of life in our city," said Dean William Daniels during the May award presentation.
From college days when he held his microphone to famous lips the likes of Leonard Bernstein, Nat King Cole and Lionel Hampton to this year's interview of caricaturist Al Hirschfeld, Koch has enjoyed bringing the arts to his listeners and readers. He has written a libretto (with a second one in the works), poetry, book-reviews for Minor White's Aperture magazine, theatre reviews for City newspaper and freelance projects for Eastman Kodak Company. His university stints include 20 years at RIT as professor and liberal studies department head, and 17 years as a dean at the University of Rochester, where he founded the Writers Workshop and professionalized the U of R Summer Theatre.
Koch has served on the Arts Council of Rochester, Arts for Greater Rochester, Opera Theatre of Rochester, Friends of Rochester Public Library, Casa Italiana and the Rochester Poetry Society. His activism reaches beyond the arts to include membership in Family Service of Rochester, Action for a Better Community, Rochester Brain Power, the NAACP and Rochester Association of United Nations.
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