Former Boise State percussion professor Dr. John Baldwin died on March 28, 2026.

John Bardo Baldwin was born on April 12, 1940, in Arkansas City, Kansas. He grew up in Hutchinson, Kansas, and began piano lessons in the fourth grade and soon also began studying percussion. He played in junior high band and orchestra. In junior high, he was a charter member of the Hutchinson Skyryders drum and bugle corps. 

Baldwin received his undergraduate and master’s degrees at Wichita State, where he served as a drum major in the marching band and performed regularly in symphony ensembles. He performed a double recital in piano and percussion for his undergraduate music education degree. After finishing his master’s, he attended the Aspen Music Festival in Colorado. Professor George Gaber invited Baldwin to perform Bartok’s “Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion” — the first time a student had ever been invited to play in the faculty recital.

Baldwin earned his doctorate at Michigan State University and taught at Wisconsin State University, Oshkosh. He was hired by Boise State in 1971 and taught there for 50 years. At the time of his retirement, he was the longest-tenured professor at the university. He also played percussion for the Boise Philharmonic for 50 years, primarily as principal percussion timpanist. He worked on many Boise Music Week productions, and he became a life member of the organization. In 1991, Baldwin and fellow professors from the region co-founded the Northwest Percussion Festival with the aim of giving classical percussion ensembles from the Northwest the chance to perform for one another and exchange ideas.

Baldwin co-founded the Verde Percussion Group with his fellow percussion players in the Boise Philharmonic in 1991. The group played percussion concerts for tens of thousands of students.

Kelley Smith studied with Baldwin and described Baldwin as a demanding professor, but one whose high standards were inspired by a desire for his students to do well. Smith noted Baldwin’s sense of humor — green and red leisure suits that made appearances at campus Christmas parties — and also his kind heart. Smith teaches at a school where a large number of students come from low-income homes. When Baldwin found out that many had unpaid lunch fees, he quietly paid them.