How long have you worshiped at Saint Philip’s?
Since my wife Schenley and I left Flagstaff after 32 years to move to Tucson a little over a year ago.

What brought you to Tucson?
A life change. I retired from a career in astronomy and switched to an independent consulting business doing strategic planning and fundraising for various non-profits.

I was so deeply entrenched in the Flagstaff community that I thought it would be best for my successor if I were out of the picture.

And I’ll add that the winter of 2023 (when Flagstaff got 168 inches of snow) made that decision easier!

What was the post you left in Flagstaff?
For the last 14 years I was the Executive Director of Lowell Observatory.

What about the work did you enjoy?
The single most satisfying moment of my entire 14 years there was when we shut down on Friday, March 13, 2020. Not because we had to close the observatory’s public programs (which serviced over 100,000 visitors annually) which meant that $3 million in annual operating revenue disappeared.

It was satisfying because I called the observatory’s Trustee that day and said that $1 million from the private reserve would be needed in the operating account to keep everyone on board during the worst of the crisis —he readily agreed, and I was then able to send an email to all the employees telling them not to sweat it…go home, stay well, paychecks will arrive.

I had no idea what we were going to do but trusted that we would figure it out. And we did. But telling our employees in the worst possible situation that they were going to be ok was a truly gratifying experience.

What prompted you to retire?
Exhaustion and burnout. The job was all consuming; I was CEO of a large nonprofit and under a tremendous amount of strain and tough external and internal situations that never ceased.

Case in point, I didn’t touch a keyboard for basically 15 years except on Christmas Eve and Easter services.

Where did you do that?
At the Episcopal Church of the Epiphany in Flagstaff. Those are both long days for the primary organist and I was pleased to help.

I did play services a little more regularly once in-person worship restarted in 2022, but it’s only since moving to Tucson that I’ve started playing again with any regularity. I’m not where I want to be but I love it and am having fun slowly scraping barnacles and rust off my skills.

Dr. Appel and Dr. Campbell have been very welcoming and wonderful to work with. And it’s a joy to be part of a music program that tackles the entire Bach Mass in B Minor!

Were you raised in a faith tradition?
I was born and raised in Prince Edward County, Virginia, as a southern Baptist until I was 12 years old. My mother was an Episcopalian but agreed when she married my father to raise us in the Baptist church.

We lived in the only county in the United States that closed its public school doors after the Brown v Board of Education decision required that schools integrate.

I saw discrimination close up. Our family went to the white Baptist church and the Black community went to the black Baptist church. Nobody was welcome at the other. It was just the way it was.

I’ll never forget one Easter morning when I was 10 years old. A new Black student at the local college arrived at the white church wearing a light green dress and holding a bible—and the ushers turned her away. The look on her face is seared into my memory.

Our family eventually left that church. I was largely unchurched through my teenage years but taking organ lessons kept me somewhat connected. My first regular playing gig was in grad school, for the campus Lutheran parish at Penn State.

What brought you to the Episcopal church?
Marrying an Episcopalian!

What about Saint Philip’s appeals to you?
The traditional approach to the liturgy and how the service is carried out. There’s a wonderful flow to the service; all the elements are present but the service moves elegantly.

And another huge part of Saint Philip’s appeal to me is the music.

What about music captures your passion?
Art, poetry, music—every one of these pursuits is a way of understanding who we are and where we’re going.

There are aspects of creation from astrophysical theory—the universe—that are unknown and unknowable, yet programmed into the fabric of the universe. Music, art, religion, storytelling are additional lenses for us explore some of that.

It’s pieces like the Mass in B Minor that make me think Bach, working along the musical axis, came as close to understanding the true nature of the universe as any astronomer working along the scientific axis. He mastered contrapuntal and self-referential music, fugue in particular.

Here’s my plug: I encourage everyone to attend Saint Philip’s free concert of Bach’s Mass in B Minor at 4:00pm tomorrow, Saturday, February 21. You want fugues? We got fugues!

Who inspires you?
Johann Sebastian Bach. It’s no exaggeration to say that Bach’s music has helped me get through life.

I had a choice of careers: music or science. I opted for physics and continued the organ as a hobby.

One of Bach’s leading biographers, Christoph Wolff, terms him the “musical scientist.” The logic, the rigor, and the complexity of Bach’s music, invariably resulting in sublime beauty, mirrors what I see when I read an astrophysical paper.

The patterns that I dig out of a data series interlock and start to make sense. There’s a perfect analogy of that in Bach’s music. He captured that at a level nobody else has; Bach is the GOAT.

The perfect fusion of the road I didn’t take is carried out at such a high level at Saint Philip’s and I’m grateful that I get to be a part of it.

It sounds as though you don’t believe there is a conflict between science and religion.
That’s right. I love talking about this subject, and have even led a series of lectures about it.

Spiritual exploration is not just non-conflicting but necessary; science can’t explain everything. There are limits to what we can measure and understand.

Science is a wonderful tool but its misuse can blur the lines between evidence-based systems of thought and faith-based systems of thought. Misuse of the boundaries of faith can have the reverse effect, too!

Would you say more about that?
With science and mathematics, we enter a weird realm of paradox, uncertainty, and unknowability. And that’s where self-reference comes into the equation.

As humans we’re inside the very systems we’re trying to understand—and that breaks down our ability to achieve full understanding of that system through science alone.

A fugue is music fundamentally about itself. Fugue is a different realm from science but points toward the same larger reality, and can offer an insight not possible through logic alone.

The repertoire we do at Saint Philip’s is such high level that it’s brought that aspect of understanding creation deeply into the worship experience for me.

What gets better as you get older?
The ability to watch the world play out in its messy, bizarre way, and be able to absorb it all with an even keel. I don’t get as ruffled about things as I did when I was younger.

I may not understand why something works the way it does or someone acts the way they do but I’ve learned to wait without reaction and observe it neutrally.

And invariably in a few days or even months, I‘ll see or hear something and I’ll understand and be able to react better. It’s fun to be able to do that and not get pulled in one direction or the other.

You’ve developed a model for your strategic planning and fundraising, correct?
I have. It builds on the concept of servant leadership to what I call “servant fundraising.”

The model has four components: self-awareness, principles, calmness, and cheerfulness.

How does the model relate to fundraising?
One example is the $250,000 grant Saint Philip’s received this year from the Hampson Albert Sisler Foundation to restore the organ. I’ve done a lot of grant writing, so I offered to help with the application process.

Foundation employees visited Saint Philip’s recently and it was incredible to see the joy they felt helping enable their former boss’ legacy. Philanthropy is about bringing meaning, joy, and grace to donors, offering a conduit to exercise the innate human desire to give

Of course, I’m thrilled we got the grant and our mighty Holtkamp will again be like new. But I actually see that as secondary to the joy and fulfillment Saint Philip’s can bring to the wonderful people at the Sisler Foundation by doing good work with their gift.

How does self-awareness relate to leadership?
In order to be a good servant leader it’s essential to step outside yourself and look back inside objectively. This is where the scientist in me comes out.

A leader who is self-aware doesn’t get depressed when things go off the rails or get cocky when something goes well. The invitation is to observe what’s going on within the amazing machine (system) that’s doing the job and experience the joy of that. Hey–there’s that self-reference thing again!

And what’s important about the component “cheerful?”
Choosing the exact words as I developed this model was important. Wrapped up in cheerful is a sense of humor.

Lightening things up, particularly in stressful times, helps morale a lot.

And I love stupid jokes as much as sophisticated ones. That trickles down and has a real impact.

What’s something you know now that your younger self didn’t?
I think the servant leadership model I developed comes out of lessons I learned when my alter ego, who I call my “evil twin Skippy,” would show up. He’s the impatient firebrand dude with very poor anger management skills.

What changed?
Being in management, particularly at the top level. I learned that I might know twenty times as much as others about what was going on but that wasn’t because I was smarter. It was because my role gave me a particular insight.

And yet my information was still incomplete so I needed staff’s help. That required me to be a servant leader. I had to employ all four diamonds in the model: I had to be patient, principled, cheerful, and self-aware.

For example, if a staff person was angry with me, it was usually because they didn’t have the information I did, or something unrelated in their lives propagating into job stress. I couldn’t react emotionally and take it personally.

One thing I’ve increasingly been able to do when somebody’s been angry with me or I’m part of a conflict is not to let it cross into personal dislike. That can be hard to do. But if I violate that principle – when Skippy bursts out – I think that’s when I feel most distressed.

What’s a life lesson you keep having to learn?
My father was a great guy and, at the same time, one of the most irascible people I’ve ever known. Skippy is the apple falling not far from the tree!

I constantly have to work on those four diamonds—especially the calmness one. Skippy’s under good management now but he’s still there.

What’s one of your core values?
Live honestly. By that I mean do what I say I will. I can’t say one thing and do something else.

What’s something you find challenging?
Far and away, my number one challenge is imposter syndrome. It used to be almost debilitating but it’s settled down so that these days it’s merely acute.

Is this common in your field?
It’s pervasive enough in Astronomy that annual meetings have entire sessions devoted to this for up-and-coming researchers.

What’s something you’re proud of?
I think Schenley and I launched three pretty darn solid young men into the world.

Do you have a mantra?
I might be wrong.

How does that serve you?
It grounds me in being a servant leader. We can’t ever know everything with absolute certainty so it’s ridiculous to think that every decision I make is the right one—especially in a world with the wicked problems we’re beset with.

What’s something you’re grateful for?
At this stage of life I’m grateful for my good health. Being able to go out and do a long bike ride or run several miles is a real gift.

What’s something you haven’t done that you’d still like to?
Run a marathon. I’ve done a half-marathon but am under some familial pressure to do a full one. Our son Benjamin has done the Boston marathon three times and our youngest, Nicholas, ran the Tucson marathon this past December. He blistered it! His time was two hours and 44 minutes.

What do you do to relax and replenish yourself?
Throughout my life I’ve listened to music.

I love traveling the country raising money but at the end of a long day interacting with people, I need to be alone. I sprung for a nice pair of headphones and listen to beautiful music to unwind. It’s not just an emotional response; I can actually feel my blood pressure subside.

What’s a fun fact about you?
I love video games.

Any special kind of video game?
Our son Nicholas and I are virtual air traffic controllers, which has been a fantastic way to stay in touch with him while he and his wife are far away in Boston.

The online system has evolved so it’s not actually a game—it’s almost a full-blown simulation of the national air system from both the piloting and ATC side. Many of the staff are real pilots and real air traffic controllers.

Before you’re allowed to log in and provide ATC to pilots flying their simulators, there are exams and over-the-shoulder tests, and you’d better be spot on with phraseology and handling fringe situations.

Typical hobby, right? I’m a ground controller at Boston Logan and am enjoying working my way up to Tower and eventually to Boston Center. It’s the real deal.