Bea Van Demark Isaak, 84, passed away on October 6, 2021. Mary Margaret Van Demark Isaak, affectionately called Bea, was a pianist, singer, and teacher. Her love of music created connections with people in every community she joined, from a Filipino church in Oakland, California, to a retirement community in Stillwater, Minnesota. As a founder of Great Music at Boutwells Landing retirement community, she not only helped organize musical programs, but was also the driving force in raising money for a spectacular grand piano, so the audience would hear music at its best.

Bea’s musical development was fostered at St. Mary's School, where Franciscan nuns gave her piano lessons. She was soon recruited to play the organ at the daily 7:00 am Mass. She attended St. Catherine University in St. Paul, where she majored in music and education; graduated magna cum laude and was named to Phi Beta Kappa. A highlight was playing Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 4 with the Minneapolis Symphony in her senior year, which Bea referred to as a "dream come true." After graduating, she taught music at a public school in East Hartford, Connecticut. She then went on to complete a master's degree in piano at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, where she met and married Donald J. Isaak, who was completing a Ph.D. in piano and harpsichord. Don's academic career took them to Arizona, where he taught at ASU, and they performed together in multiple venues.



Bea, Don, and their two daughters moved back to Evanston in 1971, when Don took a teaching position in the piano department of Northwestern's School of Music. In addition to giving piano lessons for beginner to professional-level students, Bea performed with and enjoyed the camaraderie of a piano repertoire group on Chicago's North Shore. She also judged piano competitions through the university level, particularly the Thaviu-Isaak Violin and Piano Competition at Northwestern, founded in honor of her husband, who died in 1996.



After Don's death, she joined a Bay Area piano club. She volunteered at the San Francisco Symphony. In 2015, she moved back to Minnesota to live at Boutwells Landing where she made many new friends and fans.



Besides her husband, Bea is preceded in death by her older brother. Bea is survived by two daughters, a sister, two brothers, two grandchildren and by many nieces and nephews. In lieu of flowers, donations may be sent to the Northwestern University Thaviu-Isaak Piano Scholarship or St. Catherine University, St. Paul, Minnesota. (Source: ASU Foundation)