The Vassar College Music Department mourns the loss of its long-serving, much cherished saxophone teacher, Ed Xiques, who died on 4 December in Las Cruces, New Mexico. Born in Staten Island, NY, in 1939, Ed began playing the soprano saxophone when he was nine years old, and would eventually earn a BA in music education at Boston University in 1962. He became a full-time jazz musician in the late 1960s, and played with many bands, including the celebrated Thad Jones/Mel Lewis... Jazz Orchestra on baritone sax. Ed joined Vassar's music faculty in the late 1990s, and while teaching several generations of Vassar saxophone students he also maintained an active performing career, touring throughout the world with Liza Minnelli and her band until 2009, as well as playing and arranging for the Westchester Jazz Orchestra and the NY Jazz Repertory Orchestra. Ed was a wonderful teacher and colleague whose warm, outgoing, and generous spirit graced Skinner Hall until his retirement in 2018. He will be much missed by those of us who had the privilege to work alongside him, and by the many students whom he guided and inspired.