John Edward Dopyera, 1929-2014

The European Bluegrass Music Association Facebook page passes on the sad news that Dr John Edward Dopyera, retired research social psychologist, died last Wednesday (12 November 2014). He was born in California on 16 August 1929. His father and uncle, the brothers John and Rudolph Dopyera, were born in Slovakia (then part of the Austro-Hungarian empire) and emigrated with their parents and siblings in 1908 to the USA, where they later developed the resonator guitar, now known under the generic title of 'dobro', derived from Dopyera Brothers.

Dr Dopyera (whose outline of the history of his family can be found here) made several trips to Slovakia from 1990 onwards to support the development of the celebrated Dobrofest at Trnava. In 2005 he received, on behalf of his father and uncle, a Distinguished Achievement Award from the International Bluegrass Music Association. An obituary can be seen here or via a link on the EBMA Facebook page.