He was descended from Mayflower bond servant Edward Doty through his mother's ancestors, while on his father's side from a Virginia-originated, Kentucky-based family of tobacco plantation owners.

He and his wife traveled extensively and, for a good decade, he led educational tours to Turkey, Greece, Italy, and especially Sicily.

He wrote extensive music criticism for local Madison journals, and since 2001 was a staff reviewer for Isthmus.

[5] For over three decades he was a regular broadcaster on recorded music for WHA/WERN Public Radio, and for the past 18 years was a monthly host on WORT's "Musica Antiqua".

He is buried in the Coughlin family plot at Green-Wood Cemetery, Brooklyn, where he joins his ancestor Thomas Joralemon (c. 1776–1850) and where his neighbors include Leonard Bernstein, Louis Moreau Gottschalk, as well as other notables.