Service set for Phila. Orchestra cellist William Stokking, 81

A memorial service and concert have been set to honor former Philadelphia Orchestra principal cellist William Stokking, 81, of Medford.

The service is to be at 2:30 p.m. Sunday, April 12, at the Unitarian Universalist Church, 401 Kings Highway N., Cherry Hill.

The concert is to be at 3 p.m. Saturday, May 9, at Field Concert Hall of the Curtis Institute of Music, 1726 Locust St.

His wife, Nancy, said both events are open to the public.

Mr. Stokking, who retired from the orchestra in 2005, died Sunday, Dec. 14, 2014, at a Moorestown nursing home of complications from a stroke.

He joined the Philadelphia Orchestra in 1960, then played with the former Chamber Symphony of Philadelphia, the Boston Philharmonic, and the Cleveland Orchestra, before returning to the Philadelphia Orchestra in 1973.

A native of Ventnor and a lifelong New Jersey resident, Mr. Stokking studied at Curtis and the Juilliard School.