Lee Eliot Berk (born 1942)[1](p12) was President of the Berklee College of Music (founded as Schillinger House in 1945 by his father, Lawrence Berk) from 1979[1](p169) to 2004.[2] Under the younger Berk’s leadership, the college underwent significant changes. Berklee expanded its curriculum to create new majors, including Film Scoring, Music Production and Engineering, Music Synthesis, Songwriting, Music Business/Management, and Music Therapy.[1](p216) Educational applications of music technology expanded, the college administration was reorganized, more student services were added, and non-music academic offerings increased.[1](pp169,170) In 1992, he established the Berklee International Network that includes music schools with a shared mission around the globe.[1](p267)
Upon his retirement in 2004, Berk was awarded an honorary doctorate from Berklee. In addition, he was awarded the Order of the Rising Sun from the Emperor of Japan in 2004 for his contributions to strengthening cultural ties between the U.S. and Japan.[3] He also received the President’s Merit Award for Outstanding Educational Achievement from the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences and the 2004 NAMM Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Music Products Industry.[4]
Berk graduated from Brown University in 1964 and earned his law degree from Boston University in 1967.[4] He began working at Berklee College of Music in 1966, serving first as bursar and supervisor of the Private Study Division.[1](p100) In 1969, he founded the first New England High School Stage Band Festival, later known as the Berklee High School Jazz Festival. In 2010, its 42nd year, it was the largest event of its kind in the United States.[5] He served as a vice president from 1971 to 1979.[1](p100) He is the author of Legal Protection for the Creative Musician, which won an ASCAP-Deems Taylor Award in 1971.[6]