Don Wright, CM (September 6, 1908 - June 27, 2006) was a Canadian composer, musician, educator and philanthropist.
The group was in high demand in the winters and since the brothers were all attending the University of Western Ontario, the band became associated with the school.
He was a member of the Delta Upsilon fraternity and became a successful athlete as a sprinter, high hurdler and long jumper.
Wright arranged fanfares for these trumpets to play to announce the entry of the band into the stadium as well as add flourishes to songs.
These short jazz arrangements deviated from the traditional marching band repertoire and became very popular at the football games, and gained positive response from the press.
Wright left the group in 1933 after graduating university but was brought back in 1935 to direct the band, as he was living in the area at the time.
In 1936, the University Student Council at Western put on a drive for funds to support the purchase of new uniforms.
After graduating university, Wright stayed in London, Ontario, and taught at Sir Adam Beck Collegiate as a music, history, Latin and Greek teacher.
He was appointed Captain and returned to Western University to organize musical units and troop shows to entertain the services.
At CFPL, he interacted with Canadian talents such as Max Ferguson, Ward Cornell and Tommy Hunter.
They received widespread airplay on the Dominion Network in Canada and the Mutual Broadcasting System and NBC Radio in the United States.
[7] Wright moved to Toronto in 1955, where he composed scores for films and TV and published a number of choral and popular songbooks for use in school music programs.
[4] Wright was commissioned to produce a choral work called Proudly We Praise and it was performed on Canada Day of 1967 for the Centennial celebration.
This estate, coupled with the large amount of royalties and performance fees Wright was earning at the time, allowed him to actively donate to charitable causes which promoted music education in Canada.