Walter Nowick

Walter Nowick (January 29, 1926—February 6, 2013) was an American teacher of Rinzai Zen. He was a Juilliard-trained pianist and a veteran of World War II. He studied Zen in Japan for 16 years while teaching university-level piano and voice, then returned to the United States to teach music and Zen in Surry, Maine, where he founded Moonspring Hermitage. He later founded the Surry Opera Company in the mid-1980s and retired from formal Zen teaching in 1985. Biography Early years Nowick's parents were immigrants of Russian-Polish origin. He grew up on a potato farm on Long Island, New York. He showed an early talent for music and studied piano at Juilliard School with Henriette Michaelson. She summered in Surry, and he first came to Maine as a teenager to study with her. He left his piano study to serve in the Pacific during World War II, taking part in the final sweep of Okinawa after the island had surrendered. He eventually returned to his piano studies with Michaelson, who introduced him to Zen. He began sitting at the First Zen Institute of America, where Michaelson was a member.