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Bob Heintz, founder and president of the East Tennessee Jazz Society and a tireless advocate for the fine arts in this area, died Tuesday at the age of 78.

He is survived by his wife, Nancy, who said her husband had battled congestive heart failure for several years.

"He fought cancer in 2000, and a couple of years later, they discovered he had diabetes," she told The Daily Times on Wednesday. "Not long after that, they noticed his heart was beginning to fail, so it had been going on for a while. He would psych himself up for meetings of the East Tennessee Jazz Society or the Friends of the (Blount County Public) Library, but then he would come home and just sleep because he was so exhausted.

"He went to sleep (Monday) night in his chair, and the next morning I got up to go to work. He was sleeping so peacefully and comfortably that I kissed him on the cheek and left him a note, and when I came home later that day, he was gone. But really -- what a nice way to go. I have no regrets -- we had a good life together."

The couple were married for 51 years and have been residents of Blount County since 1994, moving here from Connecticut. Born Oct. 21, 1931, Heintz was raised in Detroit and graduated from Michigan State University in 1956 with a degree in communications. With experience as a national sales manager in corporate art and a self-made businessman in corporate communications, he's traveled the country and made numerous contacts in the jazz genre.

Supporter of the arts

When Nancy found work at Maryville College, where she taught English as a Second Language for several years, they settled in East Tennessee. A passionate supporter of the arts, Bob Heintz obtained a volunteer position at the Knoxville Museum of Art, and, having promoted jazz and jazz cabaret shows in New England, he began investigating Knoxville's jazz scene.

In September 1997, the East Tennessee Jazz Society met for the first time, with roughly 25 people in attendance at that first meeting. Today, according to Nancy, the organization has almost 300 people on its mailing list, 180 of whom are dues-paying members. However, with her husband's death, the fate of the ETJS is unknown, she said.

"He'll be very much missed and irreplaceable," said Dr. Larry Smithee, associate professor of music at Maryville College and a friend of the deceased. "The neat thing about Bob was obviously his passion, for jazz music in particular, as well as his great organizational skills. His establishment of the East Tennessee Jazz Society tapped into both of those, and it served as a really unique support mechanism for jazz in this area.

"He was just a consummate fan of jazz music and tireless about it -- you don't run into those kinds of people all the time. You have people who like it, but this guy was on fire about it, and he tried to keep the meetings here in Maryville as much as possible. Every month, people were driving here from Knoxville, which is usually the opposite when you get into culture."

Michael Gill, who coordinates the "Alive After Five" concert series at the Knoxville Museum of Art, first met Heintz in 1997, when he came out to one of the first meetings of the ETJS. The two hit it off, and over the years they frequently collaborated on various projects between the ETJS and Gill's old organization, the Smoky Mountain Blues Society.

Sorely missed

"He'll be missed by many, many folks -- musicians and other jazz fans, myself included," Gill said. "I'm still trying to absorb the reality of it. It'll hit me on Friday, I'm sure, when I don't see him here at the museum. He rarely missed a time helping out here."

"He was somebody who knew the music inside and out -- that was his life's passion," added Vance Thompson, director of the Knoxville Jazz Orchestra and a Blount County native. "He loved the music and the musicians, and he loved being around them. He made things happen that otherwise wouldn't be going on around town."

His passion even carried overseas, according to his wife. One of her fondest memories was of a trip they took to Russia with the Sister Cities Exchange program.

"Watching him interest the Russian kids in jazz -- that was his big thing," she said. "He loved it, and they loved it -- he gave them the thumbnail history of jazz, he played records for them, and they ate it up. They responded so well."

In addition to his wife, Heintz is survived by his daughter Robin and her husband, Chris; daughter Joanna and her husband, Mark; son Carl and his wife, Ann; nine grandchildren -- Bryan, Megan and Lauren Roper; Kelsey and Taylor Flatau; and Katrina, Valerie, Viktor and Zachary Heintz. He is also survived by two siblings -- a sister Susan and her husband Vincent; and a brother, Harold, as well as several nieces and nephews.

The funeral will be held at 2 p.m. Saturday at McCammon-Ammons-Click Funeral Home in downtown Maryville; visitation will take place during the service. In lieu of flowers, friends are asked to donate to a charity of their choice.