Kenneth Wilfred Whitten

Kenneth (Ken) Wilfred Whitten passed away on January 14, 2021. He was an only child, born on March 3, 1929, in Toronto, Canada, where he resided for the first half of his life. Ken worked as an accountant (auditor) with the Ontario government. He discovered jazz in his twenties and began collecting record albums and attending concerts in Toronto. His love of jazz took him to New York City to the jazz clubs, where he could see all of his heroes perform. Jazz turned a quiet civil servant into a "hep cat." Ken made friends with many of the jazz greats in his day, and they would look for him wherever they performed. He developed a keen ear for jazz music, writing articles on the genre and its stars. He became an informal historian of jazz and could relate fascinating stories about the musicians and singers, great and small. He also became a fan of baseball, listening to Yankee games on the radio. Like many fans, rooting for the best team made him feel like a winner. One of his fondest memories was attending his first game at Yankee Stadium, where he saw Joe DiMaggio "hit one out." As with jazz, Ken studied the histories of both the game of baseball and its players. On one of his New York trips, he met Olimpia Weglowski, a Cuban immigrant who worked as a librarian. After a "whirlwind romance," they married and initially lived in Toronto. Olimpia wanted to return to New York, so she convinced Ken to retire and move to the United States. They traveled the country and settled in Las Vegas, where Ken gained U.S. citizenship. Ken was an avid collector of jazz photographs, building a collection of over 10,000 original photos. Filmmaker, Ken Burns, drew images from Ken's library for his landmark documentary, "Jazz.” After Olimpia's passing in 2005, Ken spent seven years taking jazz cruises with friend and music producer, Wayne Knight. Ken lived his life with passion and humor, and he will be missed by all who knew him. He was truly a unique person. Services were private.