Joseph "Doc" Hebert Jr., Loyola University's longtime band director, has announced he will retire at the end of the current spring semester after 55 years at the university, according to a Loyola news release.
Hebert, 75, graduated from Loyola in 1963 and has taught music at the university for more than a half century. He conducted the New Orleans Saints Band before it disbanded after Hurricane Katrina and has performed with the New York Philharmonic under Leonard Bernstein.
For his accomplishments, Hebert received the International Association of Jazz Educators' Lifetime Achievement Award in 1992 and was inducted into the Louisiana Music Educators Association Hall of Fame in 2004.