The Votes Are In!
2024 Readers' Choice is back, bigger and better than ever!
View Winners → Music Sep 21, 2020
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A long line of students waits to congratulate Andy Osman after an auditorium was named for him at Long Beach Poly High in 2019. When Andy Osman, Poly High School’s beloved “Mr. Music Man,” was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer a year and a half ago, he met the life-threatening disease with characteristic aplomb. “I know I’m dying,” he said in an interview after his retirement in June 2019, when the Poly High Auditorium was renamed the Andrew Osman Performing Arts Center. “But I’d rather enjoy what time I have, instead of being sad and depressed.” And enjoy life he did. He went golfing and skiing with friends. He visited with friends at his home. And until the coronavirus struck earlier this year, he also did what he enjoyed more than anything: working with kids on their music as a visiting guest conductor consultant at Long Beach schools. “With Andy, it was always all about kids,” his wife, Maureen Osman, said Wednesday, Sept. 16. “Despite the cancer, he was having a blast working with kids.” But Osman recently lost his fight with the deadly disease, dying earlier this month at MemorialCare Long Beach Medical Center. He was 59. Jill Baker, […]