Suburban maestro Ralph Wilder dies at 77

Ralph Wilder, who for more than three decades led the Mount Prospect Community Band and then later the Northwest Concert Band, died Saturday from injuries suffered during a 2018 rehearsal accident.

Wilder, 77, of Riverwoods, is being remembered as a passionate teacher who gave talented musicians in the Northwest suburbs opportunities to perform.

"He made the Mount Prospect band a really well-performing group," said John Alfini, former president of the community band. "He was primarily somebody who tried to bring out the best in everybody."

After receiving a master's degree in music from Northwestern University, Wilder taught at Prospect High School, where he also served as band director.

In 1975, the Mount Prospect Park District put the Chicago native in charge of the community band. He would serve in that role for two years, then returned in 1983 and remained until 2015, when he started the Northwest Concert Band.

"I think he wanted to give people who have a passion for music and performing music, but not at a professional level, an outlet," said his son, Jeffrey Wilder.

The band held popular concerts at Lions Park in Mount Prospect and performed abroad in Italy and France.

"We would do a patriotic piece or a march and he would invite children from the audience to come up, and he would give them the baton and say, 'Go ahead, stand in front of the band and you can conduct,'" said Randy Steinberg, now conductor of the Northwest Concert Band.

A talented musician, Wilder played principal clarinet in the Evanston Symphony and performed frequently with the Maxwell Street Klezmer Band. He also was lead alto saxophonist with the Association of Professional Orchestra Leaders, a nonprofit for musicians in the Chicago area.

For many years, he was the leader of the Ralph Wilder Orchestra, which would play weddings and bar mitzvahs at such venues as the Drake Hotel in Chicago.

Wilder was injured in May 2018, when a large piece of theatrical equipment fell on him during a rehearsal with the Chicago Clarinet Ensemble at Northeastern University in Chicago. The accident left him paralyzed from the chest down.

He continued to play clarinet, but his son said his diaphragm had been compromised and he was never able to play with his former breath control and endurance.

But a year after the accident, Wilder met famed violinist Itzhak Perlman, who contracted polio at a young age and has walked with braces and crutches ever since.

"He told my dad, 'Focus on what you do have, not what you don't have,'" Jeffrey Wilder said. "And my dad did that."

Wilder leaves behind his son Jeffrey (Kristi), daughter Debra, and grandchildren Zachary and Joshua.

A funeral service be held at 10 a.m. Wednesday at Weinstein & Piser Funeral Home, 111 Skokie Blvd., Wilmette. The service will be livestreamed at asimplestreaming.com/rgwilder. Interment will be private.