Obituary of Raymond A. Chamberlain

Raymond Alvin Chamberlain, 87, of Orchard Park, NY, passed away peacefully at his home on Wednesday, April 12, 2017. Ray was born March 6, 1930 in Lackawanna, NY. He was married to Dolores Annette Costello who passed away in 2008. Ray graduated from Lackawanna High School in 1947 and earned his bachelor's degree from Empire State College. He began a data processing management career as a Supervisor at Boss-Linco Lines in 1957. Ray went on to achieve increasing information systems management responsibilities working at Graphic Controls Corp., the State University of NY at Buffalo and he finished his career at Buffalo State College as the Director of Computing Services. He was a member of the SUNY Computing Officers Association and Administrative Systems Executive Committee. Throughout his career he and the teams he led modernized numerous academic and administrative systems taking UB and Buff State from the punched-card era into the modern online systems of the day. Ray's first love had always been music. In high school he studied trombone and guitar as a member of the high school band. In 1948, Ray enlisted in the Army and joined the 1st Army Band as a trombone player. After his discharge from the service, Ray moved to Hollywood, CA and studied with well-known guitarists Alan Ruess and Howard Roberts. During this time, he also performed with multiple groups in the Hollywood area, notably including Liberace and the Teddy Charles Trio at the Lighthouse in Hermosa Beach. Ray played at Ciros on Sunset Blvd. where all the well known movie and TV stars gathered. While at Ciros, he joined the Frances Faye Orchestra. Frances (pianist/vocalist) was the darling of the Hollywood set at the time. In 1970, Ray was forced to stop playing guitar due to damage he sustained from a diving accident he had as a young boy. Unbeknownst to him, he had incurred major damage resulting in the loss of feeling in the 3rd and 4th fingers of the left hand. Ray then decided to switch to bass guitar which he had never played before. He persevered and taught himself to play the instrument. In 1975 he was asked by Jill Pellis to be part of the group, Jill Pellis & The Music Machine. They played at clubs all over Western New York which launched another career for Ray. After 5 years with the Music Machine, Ray then joined Thom Diina's Orchestra. Ray went on to join the Chuck Lawrence Orchestra (later to become Joe Baudo's Big Band), Joey Giambra's Band, Carol McLaughlin's Big Band and was a member of the Buffalo Jazz and Swing Orchestra which currently performs throughout Western New York. Ray became a mainstay of the WNY jazz scene performing regularly, three to five times a week up until March 1st when he performed for the last time with the Frank Gerard and Ray Chamberlain Quintet at Mason's Grille in Hamburg. In October of 2016 Ray was honored by being selected for induction into the Buffalo Music Hall of Fame joining over 290 of Buffalo's finest musicians. Ray was always proud of his Lackawanna roots. He was known for his incredible memory and engaging story telling. He will certainly be missed.