Photo: Colorado’s Jonathan Tiersten & friend | By Paloma Chavez, People | “His passing is a stark reminder to spend time with the people you care about while you can,” fellow composer Bear McCreary said in a statement. A hiker who died while on a trail in California has been identified as a New Zealand-born composer.
On Saturday, May 9, at 9:43 a.m. local time, search and rescue crews were sent to the Mount Wilson Trail just north of Rescue Ridge after getting reports of a hiker who was found unresponsive, the Sierra Madre Search and Rescue Team said in a statement.
When rescuers arrived, they found the hiker’s friends performing CPR, officials said.
Sierra Madre firefighters provided medical assistance, but the man, identified by the Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner as Mark Smythe, died at the scene.
At this time, investigators do not suspect any foul play. Sierra Madre Police Department Sgt. J. Rodriguez told local ABC station KABC the 53-year-old man was experiencing a medical emergency before his death.
The medical examiner’s office determined his cause of death to be atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, ASCVD, which is caused by plaque buildup in arterial walls.
Smythe served as the Department Chair of the Los Angeles College of Music’s Composing for Visual Media Program, according to the school’s website.
Following his death, fellow composers shared tributes, including Emmy-winning composer Bear McCreary.
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Read more here:
https://www.msn.com/en-us/tv/celebrity/prominent-composer-dies-on-hiking-trail-marking-second-fatal-accident-there-in-just-a-week/
Read the original article on People
https://people.com/prominent-composer-dies-on-hiking-trail-marking-second-fatal-accident-there-in-just-a-week-11971700
OTHER NOTABLE MUSICIANS’ DEATHS
Posting for my Veteran/singer/songwriter/musician friend Troy Hoss: Heavy on my heart so here goes: This is a very real problem … 22 Veterans a day surrender to their demons. #SuicideAwareness | Call Veteran’s Hotline: 988 #1 or 844-647-1354
Warning Signs of Suicide – National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988 or if you want to discuss, call the old numbers at 800-273-TALK or 800-273-8255 for English and 888-628-9454 for Spanish. Learn the signs of someone who may be contemplating suicide.
From Care2 via Jock Bartley on Facebook: Trump shut down our LGBTQ+ suicide and mental health hotline, but CANADA opened a US toll-free number to theirs… so our citizens can get help anytime, at no cost: 1-877-330-6366
Kindness & empathy have no borders.
If you want to know more about any of the musicians we lost, please check them out at http://www.wikipedia.com
May 2026
11: Jack Douglas, 80, American record producer (Toys in the Attic, Rocks, Double Fantasy); Viorel Zgardan, 60–61, Moldovan operatic bass singer (Maria Bie u National Opera and Ballet Theatre).
9: Mark Smythe, 53, New Zealand-born American composer (Daddy’s Little Girl, Unfallen, The Reef: Stalked), atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease; Warren Tipton, American singer (The Chi-Lites).
8: Abdelwahab Doukkali, 85, Moroccan composer and musician.
7: Luiz Sérgio Carlini, 73, Brazilian songwriter and guitarist (Tutti Frutti); Günter Jena, 93, German choral conductor and musicologist; James F. Sundah, 70, Indonesian songwriter.
6: Jesse Hector, 78, English musician (The Gorillas); Aimable Karasira, 48, Rwandan singer and political activist, drug overdose; Carlos Malcolm, 91, Jamaican trombonist, percussionist, and bandleader.
5: Evelyn Cox, 66, American country and bluegrass singer and musician (The Cox Family); Guto Graça Mello, 78, Brazilian composer and music producer; Jonathan Tiersten, 60, American actor (Sleepaway Camp, Return to Sleepaway Camp, The Perfect House).
