He was Professor of Trombone at the Eastman School of Music of the University of Rochester and Chair of the Woodwind, Brass, and Percussion Department.
He succeeded the trombonist and teacher Emory Remington, who served as Professor of Trombone at Eastman close to 50 years.
His conducting teachers included Richard Lert of the American Symphony Orchestra League and Lloyd Geisler, Assoc.
He performed as a soloist with the U.S. Navy Band in Washington D.C. (1960-1964), the National Symphony Orchestra Brass Quintet, Washington Theatre Chamber Players, and the Contemporary Music Forum, as well as performing solo recitals in London, Paris, Cologne, Stuttgart, Birmingham, Manchester, Japan, Sweden, Finland, Austria, Holland, Poland, and Denmark.
He served as co-director of the Eastern Trombone Workshop along with John Melick held at Towson State University (1974-1979) in Baltimore, Maryland.
The U.S. Navy Band, under Chief Phillips (a Cramer student) took control of the workshop in 1983, thus bringing the event back to the DC area.