Rodney M. Hazen, 67, of Dusseldorf, Germany, formerly of Cleghorn, IA, passed away Monday, October 1, 2012 at Cologne University Hospital in Germany. The family deeply mourns the loss of their beloved son and brother.


Memorial services will be held on Saturday, November 10th, at 10:30 a.m.at the Cleghorn Christian Church in Cleghorn, Iowa. Pastor Tom Lewis and Pastor Bob Blair will officiate. Burial will be in the Marcus-Amherst Cemetery at Marcus, Iowa. The Boothby Funeral Home in Cherokee is in charge of the arrangements. Online condolences can be left at www.boothbyfuneral.com


Rodney was born March 30, 1945 at LeMars, IA. He was a 1963 graduate of the Meriden - Cleghorn High School. Rodney was highly active in all aspects of music throughout his childhood. He began piano lessons at the age of 12 under Evelyn Prunty of Marcus and continued through his high school years. He performed in various recitals in Cherokee and Sioux City, was accompanist for the high school vocal chorus and was the assistant church pianist. Rodney also helped with chores and responsibilities on the family farm. Rodney's family was actively involved in the fellowship of the Church of Christ at Cleghorn, IA where he was baptized at the age of 13 on April 6, 1958.

Rodney was preceded in death by his father Kermit T. Hazen. He is survived by his mother, Kathryn Hazen of Cherokee, Iowa; a sister, Joyce Hazen of Omaha, Nebraska and a brother, David Hazen of Springfield, Illinois; nieces: Michelle Hazen of Pleasant Plains, Illinois & Renee Hazen of Carbondale, Illinois; and niece Michelle's children: Madeline Grace Bryant & Brody David Bryant both of Pleasant Plains, Illinois.

Rodney studied piano at Drake University in Des Moines, IA, the Eastman School of Music, New York State University of Rochester NY with Eugene List and the New York Mannes College of Music in Manhattan, NY with Leonard Schure and Edith Oppens. Engagements haven taken him since 1970 to numerous American ballet institutions and companies like the David Howard Dance Center, Joffrey Ballet, New York City Ballet, American Ballet Theater, Dance Theater of Harlem, Ballet Hispanico New York. He was rehearsal pianist of London's Royal Ballet for their productions at the Metropolitan Opera, and among others has played for Maya Plissetskaya, Dame Margot Fonteyn, Rudolf Nureyev, Mikhail Baryshnikov and Natalia Makarova and for choreographers like Peter Schaufuss, Uwe Scholz and Heinz Spoerli. After a 1990 contract at the Hessian State Theatre of Wiesbaden, Germany he worked for seven years as principal pianist and chief musical coach for the ballet of the Deutsche Oper Berlin. From 2004 to 2009 Rodney was musical ballet coach for Ballet-Mainz under Martin Schläpfer, whom he followed to Düsseldorf on the latter's appointment as head of Ballet am Rhein.

Rodney had a great love for the fine arts, music, was fluent in several languages, and loved to travel to many historic and ancient cities around the world. At the time of his death he had recently retired from the Deutsche Oper am Rhein Ballet Company in Dusseldorf, Germany where he was loved and admired by his colleagues and friends.

Rodney did not take life for granted and would want us to celebrate our own existence, instead of feeling loss.
Stateside memorial services will be held at a later date.