George K. Huber, retired performing arts librarian at Swarthmore, has died at 85
Over 41 years, he mentored students, faculty, and staff about library services at the college, and expanded the school’s music catalog and collections of videos, audio files, books, and scores.
George K. Huber, 85, of Swarthmore, retired performing arts librarian at Swarthmore College, artist, collector, mentor, and volunteer, died Sunday, June 29, of complications from dementia at Plush Mills Senior Living in Wallingford.
Mr. Huber came to Philadelphia from Washington, D.C., to earn a bachelor’s degree at the University of Pennsylvania and master’s degree at Drexel University. He moved to Swarthmore in 1964 and never left.
He was hired as an assistant librarian in the circulation department at Swarthmore College in 1964 and rose to head of the new Daniel Underhill Music and Dance Library in 1974. Over 41 years, until his retirement in 2005, Mr. Huber mentored students, faculty, and staff about library services at Swarthmore, and expanded the school’s music catalog and collections of videos, audio files, books, periodicals, scores, and computer software.
He told the Swarthmore College Bulletin in 2005 that he became so familiar with the library needs of music and dance students and faculty that they stopped asking if he had a particular piece. “They know I’ve already bought it,” he said.
He helped organize the TriCollege Libraries collaboration project with Haverford and Bryn Mawr Colleges, and Beth R. Glassman, vice president for human resources at Swarthmore, praised his “remarkable knowledge and meticulous curation” in a tribute. Swarthmore professor of music Jon Kochavi said: “He created a jewel. It’s simply an outstanding collection both in breadth and depth.”
The College Bulletin celebrated his retirement in 2005, and Mr. Huber said: “OK, I’ve been here 40 years. I might as well go and give somebody else a chance.”
Away from the Swarthmore stacks, Mr. Huber’s private collections included hundreds of books, dozens of CDs, models of famous buildings, and original artwork. He framed his own hand-marbled paintings, stamped them with “G.K. Huber, marbleur” on the back, and spent many summers in Provincetown, Mass., hobnobbing with local art gallery owners and other collectors.
In 1993, Inquirer art critic Victoria Donohoe reviewed an exhibit of private collections at Swarthmore’s List Gallery, and Mr. Huber’s trove of kaleidoscopes caught her eye. She said: “He’s evidently attracted to what artists of aesthetic sensibility create through an inherent and experienced feeling of symmetry, proportion, and balance in both design and color.”
He built a clavichord and a hurdy-gurdy, mailed out handmade pop-up holiday cards, and sewed his own colorful vests. He wore what friends called “distinctive hats.”
Longtime friend Stephen Demos said: “He danced to his own music. He was one of a kind.”
Mr. Huber told the College Bulletin in 2017 that he felt “comfortable” at Swarthmore because “there didn’t seem to be any gay discrimination.” He said: “While I was never out, I was never in, either, and people sort of knew, I guess.”
He was a founding member in 1988, treasurer, and archivist for the Swarthmore Sager Committee that developed groundbreaking gay studies programs and other activities at the school, and addressed issues related to the larger LGBTQ community. “We did good things,” Mr. Huber told the College Bulletin.
He mentored several gay students in particular during their years at Swarthmore, he told the College Bulletin, “just being as helpful and supportive as I could be.” He was especially happy, he told friends, that many former students stayed in touch over the years.
He was a marshal at the city’s 1989 gay pride parade and volunteered for years at Giovanni’s Room bookstore. One longtime friend said: “He told me once that what matters are the relationships we have with people.”
George Kenneth Huber was born Dec. 11, 1939, in Washington, D.C. He graduated from St. James School in Hagerstown, Md., and moved to Philadelphia to attend Penn and Drexel.
He never got a driver’s license but went to New York for shows often and to Philadelphia at least once a week for dinner and meetups with friends. He returned to the Swarthmore campus for films and lectures after he retired and made it a point, he said, to stop by the library to “check up on the goings on in the music department.”
He liked foreign films, British TV, classical music, gay fiction, and science fiction. He was a regular at the Philadelphia Gay and Lesbian Film Festival.
He was creative, funny, and direct, friends said. “He didn’t hold back,” said longtime friend Roger Latham. Stephen Demos said: “He was a very loving individual.”
The College Bulletin asked Mr. Huber in 2017: What advice would you give your younger self? Mr. Huber said: “Hard to say. I always did what I thought should be done and have no regrets.”
Mr. Huber is survived by friends, colleagues, former students, and others.
A celebration of his life is to be held later.
Donations in his name may be made to GLAAD, File 2334, 1801 W. Olympic Blvd., Pasadena, Calif. 91199; and Lambda Legal, Box 7410167, Chicago, Ill. 60674.