Margaret Marian McPartland, (March 20, 1918 – August 20, 2013)

NEW YORK (AP) – Marian McPartland, a renowned jazz pianist and host
of the National Public Radio show "Piano Jazz," died of natural causes
Tuesday night at her Port Washington home on Long Island.

Over a career that spanned more than six decades, McPartland became
a fixture in the jazz world as a talented musician and well-loved radio
personality.

Born Margaret Marian Turner in England, she began playing classical
piano at the age of 3. At 17, she was accepted to the Guildhall School 
of Music. She left in her third year to play piano with a touring vaudeville
act, to the chagrin of her parents, who she said were "horrified," and a
professor who called popular music "rubbish."

During World War II, while playing for Allied troops with the USO and its
British equivalent, she met her husband, Jimmy McPartland. He died in 
1991.