Donnie Heitler Sound Recordings, 1980-1982 | The Sousa Archives and Center for American Music

Donald "Donnie" Heitler (1936-2018) was born in Pekin, IL. The son of Elma and Hallet Heitler, he began piano lessons as a young boy at the Jacksonville School for the Blind in Jacksonville, IL, where he learned to read Braille music. As a high school student, Heitler performed piano with professional jazz bands at McMurray College. After graduating in 1955, he attended Illinois Wesleyan University before transferring to the University of Illinois to study with Stanley Fletcher and Soulima Stravinsky. He graduated with a bachelors performance in 1959, joining Phi Mu Alpha fraternity. As a student Heitler performed dixieland jazz at KAMs, the Capital Restaurant, in the Common's "Jazz U Like It" series. Heitler performed with Johnny Bruce's big band, which performed throughout central Illinois and Indiana. He would go on to earn a master's degree in music education (1960) and a masters in guidance and counseling from the University of Illinois (1961). After graduating, Heitler played professionally in Scottsdale, Arizona; New York; and Las Vegas.

In the mid-1970s, he settled once more in Champaign, performing regularly at the Autumn Tree (in the Huntington Tower), Nature's Table, Caputos, Zorbas, Minecci's, Schnucks (at Christmas time), and the Iron Post. He also performed with Medicare 7, 8, or 9. Heitler died in Urbana in 2018, at 81 years old.