BUFFALO, N.Y. — Each week on Sunday Daybreak, we like to shine a light on those Western New Yorkers who have made an impact on their families, friends and communities. This week 2 On Your Side contributor Larry Haneberg pays tribute to Eulis Cathey and his life well lived.
"My brother and I would take my father's Duke Ellington, Sarah Vaughn, Ella Fitzgerald albums and Etta James and just lay on the floor in front of the hi-fi and listen to them for hours," recalled Patrice Cathey.
And that's how Grammy-nominated jazz producer and Western New Yorker Eulis Cathey, along with his sister Patrice Cathey, began to appreciate jazz.
Jazz lovers of a certain age may remember Eulis Cathey from his overnight jazz program on WEBR back in the 1980s, but his love of jazz came long before that, back in the 1960s.
"I was a Motown freak," Patrice Cathey said. "My brother would start buying Booker T and the MG's and he started getting into jazz really, really early, and so we just lived with music."
For a time, Eulis and Patrice Cathey attended college together in Dayton, Ohio, and that's where Eulis Cathey got his first radio gig.
"I left Dayton," Patrice Cathey said. "He stayed there and worked for WDTN."
As many people do, Eulis Cathey eventually returned to Western New York
"And that's when he started with Allentown Industries Youth Services and was the 'Jazz in the Nighttime' host overnight at WEBR," Patrice Cathey said.
A friend from college helped Eulis Cathey move from broadcasting in Buffalo to the jazz recording industry in New York City.
"He worked for a lot of different jazz labels," Patrice Cathey said. "If he was particularly proud about an achievement, he would call and tell me really excited, but you never heard him brag about it to anyone else — which I really liked about him."
Eventually, he moved over to SiriusXM, hosting jazz shows and was again able to relocate back to Buffalo.
"He told me he was tired of New York City — the wear and tear on the body and the mind," Patrice Cathey said.
His connection to family was always strong.
"For my three sons, he never missed any special event," she said.
Eulis Cathey continued his work with youth and jazz and in April was honored by the Living Legends Foundation just a few days before he died.
"Everyone was always willing and eager to talk to him," Patrice Cathey said. "He had that calm reassuring personality and he was a gentle, kind soul."
Revered and honored in his profession, Eulis Cathey spent most of his lifetime sharing his love of jazz and family. He would have turned 68 on June 13, but passed at the end of April, after a life well lived.