Robert Fitzpatrick, longtime dean at Curtis Institute, dies at 75 Peter Dobrin, The Philadelphia Inquirer Robert Fitzpatrick, 75, clarinetist and conductor, a fixture at the Curtis Institute of Music, and a member of the administrative team that failed to act on sexual-abuse claims by a teenage student at the famed music conservatory, has died. Mr. Fitzpatrick died Monday in France after an illness, a Curtis spokesperson said. “During his 23-year tenure, Fitzpatrick was central to numerous academic and technological developments at Curtis,” the school stated in an email this week to students, alumni, and others. “While Fitzpatrick’s tenure as dean was marked by many achievements, it also was clouded by actions with which we are still reckoning,” the statement continued, citing a report it commissioned after an Inquirer investigation detailed allegations by violinist Lara St. John that, as a 14-year-old student at the school, she was sexually abused and raped over a period of months by violin professor Jascha Brodsky.