Edward Roy Sims, 85, formerly of Slippery Rock, died Friday at Grove Manor Nursing Center, Grove City, where he had lived the past two years.

Born Sept. 22, 1931, in Oil City, he was the son of Walter Monroe and Goldie Audeen Mimm Sims.

Mr. Sims enjoyed a lifelong passion for music and the piano. He began to play professionally in ninth grade when asked to join an adult jazz band from the Oil City area. He continued to accompany that band every weekend through high school and the first several years of college.

Ed graduated from Oil City High School, Class of 1949. He received a bachelor of music education degree from Indiana University of Pennsylvania in 1953, a master of music education from Penn State University in 1960, and a doctorate in music education from the University of Michigan in 1967.

Mr. Sims taught music and chorus for grades one through 12 in Canton, Pa., for six years and then came to Slippery Rock University, completing 35 years of service there. While at SRU, Dr. Sims served for a period of time as chairman of the music department and gave many two-piano concerts with his friend, Dr. Lamont Crape. Dr. Sims was the collegiate representative to the Pennsylvania Music Education Association and was involved with the International Society of Music Education.

He attended six international conferences and had visited 52 countries. While abroad, he would often purchase interesting or unusual musical instruments. Many of these items were donated to IUP and are on display in the music library there.

Ed had been an active member of the Center Presbyterian Church and sang in the choir for many years. He had an interest in landscaping, rock and flower gardens, travel and genealogy, tracing his ancestry to 1150.

He is survived by his brother, Richard Mimm Sims and his wife, Virginia, of Greenville; his sisters, Norma Louise Valentine and Virginia Lee Hall of Arizona; numerous nieces and nephews; and his longtime friend and care giver Edward Quinn of Franklin.

He was preceded in death by his parents and his brother, James Donald Sims.

SIMS — There will be no public service for Edward Roy Sims, who died Friday, July 28, 2017. Interment will be at the Sunset Hill Memorial Gardens in Cranberry.Memorial contributions may be given to the Center Presbyterian Church in Slippery Rock or to a charity of the donor's choice.Funeral arrangements have been entrusted to the Smith Funeral Home, 421 New Castle St., Slippery Rock.