Publisher--Gary White

Gary White, the publisher of Pilgrims Process books, has had several careers in his lifetime. He holds a Ph.D. in Music Composition from Michigan State University. At his retirement in 1994 he was Distinguished Professor of Music at Iowa State University, where he had taught for twenty-eight years. He developed and administered the music theory curriculum and established the electronic and computer music studio at Iowa State. For a number of years he was also in charge of music listening courses for non-music-majors.

White is the composer of over fifty published musical compositions and the author of Music First! (a music fundamentals textbook); Music in Our World (a music appreciation textbook that emphasizes world music), coauthored with Elyn Aviva and David Stuart; and Instrumental Arranging (a textbook for orchestration and arranging), all published by McGraw-Hill Higher Education. In his thirty-five years as a professional composer he received numerous awards. He was awarded the U.C. Berkeley Medal by the University of California at Berkeley, was named a National Arts Associate by Sigma Alpha Iota, and has held a Mac Dowell Colony Fellowship. His compositions won many prizes and awards, including the Toon van Balkom Prize and the Shenandoah/Percussion Plus Prize.

In the years since his retirement from Iowa State University, White has devoted his time to the pursuit of his varied interests. He has received training in labyrinth facilitation with Lauren Artress at Grace Cathedral in San Francisco. With his wife, Elyn Aviva, he has led labyrinth workshops and built a number of portable and permanent labyrinths. More recently, he has been trained in Healing Touch, Reiki healing, Swedish massage, Phenominal Touch, and hot stone massage. He does book design and production for a number of publishers, including McGraw-Hill Higher Education and Healing Touch Spiritual Ministries. In 2000 White launched Pilgrims Process books and has been responsible for design, production, and distribution of all the books published by the company. Gary White feels that having varied interests helps him keep a balance in his life.

Having a rich spiritual life is central to White's unfoldment. He is a student of several spiritual traditions, including Sufism, Shaminism, and the Western Esoteric Traditions. Gary has recently written an account of his life called Pebbles: Memories of a Small-Town Kansas Boy.