Martin C. Dreiwitz, who drew on his twin passions for travel and classical music to found the Long Island Youth Orchestra, died on June 20 at a hospital near his home in Oyster Bay, NY. He was 91.

The orchestra had about 100 performers, all recruited by Mr. Dreiwitz, who also raised the funds and conducted every performance from the orchestra’s founding in 1962 to his retirement in 2012. In addition to playing four concerts as year locally, he took the group on summer tours with stops in Greece, Kenya, the Seychelles, India, Sri Lanka and Israel.

Thanks to Mr. Dreiwitz’s guidance, the orchestra’s 4,000- (and counting) alumni have gone on to play in many of the country’s major symphony orchestras and chamber groups. In 2018, hundreds of alumni returned for a concert in his honor, and he even mounted the podium to conduct a selection from his beloved “Porgy and Bess.”