Beloved husband, father, grandfather, musician and music educator, John (“Doc”) Felder, passed away on February 22, 2026. For most of his life, John was immersed in music, playing piano throughout his youth, then becoming a self-taught drummer, and eventually dedicating his whole life to music education.
John was born in St. Louis, MO in 1947 to Adolph and Eunice Felder, the third of six children. John was a Ladue High School graduate, where he was awarded the Outstanding Musician Award, was president of the Social Council, was a member of the National Honor Society, and Valedictorian.
While attending Stanford in the tumultuous 60’s, he had unique opportunities to meet and collaborate with many professional jazz performers.
He loved performing with his band, Smoke, and recorded a record with them in 1970 with the same name. John majored in English, got a teaching credential, then started teaching at Logan High School in Union City where he created a new music appreciation class, and soon was asked to take over the whole music program. After several years at Logan, he aspired for more formal training in music education so he pursued a PhD in Music Composition at UC San Diego.
ADVERTISEMENT
He taught for a few years at UC Santa Cruz, but eventually settled in as Band Director at Lynbrook High School in San Jose. Over the next 18 years. John built Lynbrook into one of the most renowned music programs in California. In addition to excellent musicianship, John taught his students discipline, leadership, respect, and responsibility, and became lovingly known as “Doc.” He also shared his love of travel with them. He organized trips with over a hundred students where they could perform in venues all over the world, including in Spain, Italy, Costa Rica, and China. After retiring in 2011, John continued performing and composing, including writing an original neo-classical symphony called “Doing School”, which was performed by the San Jose Youth Symphony in 2013.
Family was very important to John, and every summer he took his family to St. Louis to meet with the extended Felder clan, who remain close to this day. Reading was a lifelong passion, including daily reading of the newspaper and he always had 2-3 books in progress, with a particular interest in biographies and history. He enjoyed watching basketball and playing golf, especially with his grandchildren. John also played in the San Jose Wind Symphony as a percussionist and was recently selected to become its Associate Director.
John is survived by his wife, Pam Nomura; his sons, Jared Felder (Lisa Luu), Zack Felder (Jenn), Sean Felder (Allison); step-daughter, Lora Wanta; his grandchildren, Jett, Rocco, and Lucky; his siblings, Barbara Felder, Madeleine Kreysar, Merrick Felder, Stephen Felder (Wendy Wallbrunn), and Stephanie Naor-Felder (Rami Naor); and his beloved dog, Snickers.
Services will be held at Shir Hadash temple (20 Cherry Blossom Lane in Los Gatos) on Sun 4/19 at 1 pm.
Memorial contributions may be made to the John Felder Memorial Music Scholarship Fund, which will provide an annual scholarship of up to $2,000 to support a Lynbrook High School music student in pursuing further musical growth through a summer music program or experience of their choice. The fund is intended to encourage young musicians to deepen their skills, creativity, and connection to music. Visit https://everloved.com/life-of/john-felder/donate/
