User:Booksandmo

Dana Brayton
Born in Brookline on Sept. 4, 1952, Dana Graham Brayton grew up in Weston, Conn. After studying at Lake Forest, Pomona College, and the University of Washington, he returned to the Boston area, where he earned a master's degree in composition from the New England Conservatory and a doctorate from Boston University. He was also a fellow in the Tanglewood and Charles Ives programs.

Drafted into the military in 1973, Dana Brayton never went to Vietnam. Instead, he was sent to Berlin, where his musical talent made him a natural for the Army band, which staged battles with bands from other nations. Almost three decades later, Mr. Brayton paid tribute to the soldiers who did serve in Vietnam with his theatrical work ``The Things They Carried."

Mr. Brayton taught briefly at the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth and the Berklee College of Music before joining the faculty at the Boston Conservatory in 1995.

An avid outdoors man who relished his time spent sailing, swimming, hiking, skiing and biking, the composer and arranger died Monday, July 3rd, 2006, of an apparent heart attack while on a long-distance bicycle ride.

He was 53.