Eduard Zuckmayer (3 August 1890 – 2 July 1972) was a German music educator, composer, conductor and pianist.

He was the first son of wealthy factory owner Carl Zuckmayer (1864–1947) who produced tamper-evident lids for wine bottles in Nackenheim, a wine-growing village on the Rhine front.

The parents of his mother, Amalie Zuckmayer (1869–1954, née Goldschmidt), were converted from Judaism to Protestantism whereas he was raised as a Catholic.

He also attended the conductor's school of Fritz Steinbach (1855–1916) and became a piano pupil of Lazzaro Uzielli (1861–1943) at Conservatory in Cologne.

Between 1919 and 1925 he lived in Frankfurt where he performed Paul Hindemith's Sonata in D for violin and piano op.

But as an enthusiast of German Jugendmusikbewegung (= Youth Music Movement) he wanted to participate in the education of a new generation as a countermovement to the tattered political situation at Weimar Republic.

Therefore, he followed a call of pedagogue Martin Luserke (1880–1968) to work as a music teacher at Schule am Meer, a progressive boarding school on Juist Island at North Sea.

[7][8][9] When Nazism was brought to power in January 1933 the school's work became much more difficult since it counted about one third Jewish pupils and teachers.

Hindemith mediated Zuckmayer's employment at the newly founded Music Conservatory of Ankara.

Initially he led the pupils' orchestra of Musiki Muallim Mektebi, where music teachers were trained.

Gisela Jockisch and Eduard Zuckmayer lived together in Turkey but were not able to marry before 1947 because German authorities in 1938 neglected a certificate of no impediment to marriage (Ehefähigkeitszeugnis) due to racist Nuremberg Laws (Nürnberger Gesetze).

He was worried about his safety since German troops were fighting in close range to Turkey in Greece as well as in southern regions of the Soviet Union.

After the end of World War II Zuckmayer was able to leave the detainment camp and was reinstated to his former positions.

Former Daimler-Benz chairman Edzard Reuter who lived in Turkey at that time described Zuckmayer as a "dignified and quiet man" who created a "unique atmosphere" when he "sat down to play the piano".

[16][17] In contrary to Germany where he is shadowed by his famous younger brother Eduard Zuckmayer still is a very prominent figure in Turkey.