Well-known UGA trumpet professor and performer Fred Mills died Monday. (photo courtesy UGA's Hodgson School of Music).
The university says the 74-year-old Mills was killed in a traffic accident Monday night in Walton County, between Athens and Atlanta. School officials say he was returning to Athens after landing in Atlanta from an overseas trip.
Mills joined UGA's faculty in 1996. Along with teaching trumpet, he coached The Bulldog Brass Society, a graduate brass quintet. UGA officials called Mills an "inspiration to all who knew him."
Away from the Athens-campus, Mills was noted for a busy professional performance career. It included playing with orchestras and groups across the globe--from Sweden's Brass Nova to Orquesta Sinfonica de Aguascalientes in Mexico. He was a founding member of the American Symphony Orchestra in New York.
A native of Canada, Mills also recorded more than 40 albums with the Canadian Brass and nominated for a Grammy award in 1992.
