David K. Stigberg (1942-2018) | University of Illinois Archives

David K. Stigberg was born on October 31, 1942, in Bridgeport, CT. Stigberg grew up in several towns and cites along the east coast, as his family relocated frequently due to his father's work. Stigberg attended the Univerity of Connecticut for undergraduate study, where he met his first wife Gerry Lynn Callis. They married in June 1964, and in 1965, moved to Champaign where Stigberg began his master's studies in musicology at UIUC. In 1968, he participated in ethnomusicological field work in Querétaro, Mexico. After completing his master's degree, Stigberg enrolled in the PhD program in ethnomusicology at UIUC, studying under Bruno Nettl. In 1971 and 1972, Stigberg did field work in Veracruz, Mexico, as part of his doctorate studies. In 1973, he returned to the United States to accept a teaching position at the University of Illinois at Chicago Circle. He taught at Chicago until 1980, when he completed his dissertation and moved back to Champaign with his family to teach at UIUC.

During the 1980s, Stigberg made three trips to Zinacantan, Chiapas, Mexico, to conduct field research on cross-cultural exchange in the musics of the Tzotzil-speaking indigenous people and hispanic Mexicans. He taught at UIUC until 1987, when he shifted into a career in computer programming, working on digital mapping projects for the US Army as well as agricultural mapping in Illinois. Stigberg and his wife Gerry were divorced in 1994, and he remarried Sara Tuber. Stigberg passed away in 2018 at the age of 75.