The physician, violin collector and amateur player and luthier, died aged 84
Dr William Sloan, the US violin collector, amateur player and luthier, died of cancer on Friday 17 October 2025, aged 84. He was at his home, with his wife Judy and two daughters by his side.
A professional urologist, Sloan was known for his love of sharing his knowledge of fine instruments. He owned two violins from master luthiers: the 1714 ’Leonora Jackson’ Stradivari violin and the 1742 Guarneri ‘del Gesù’ violin, which has been dubbed the ‘Sloan’ in his honour.
Sloan was born in Chicago and played violin throughout his school days. He went on to earn his medical degrees from the University of Chicago in 1963 and 1967, and played first violin in the university’s symphony orchestra.
He met his wife Judy Beckner Sloan, at the University of Chicago. A pianist and singer, she went on to become a lawyer. The pair settled in Toledo, Ohio, before moving to Los Angeles.
Sloan was a close friend of the collector David Fulton, who says he was a great influence on him in becoming a collector. The two met at the University of Chicago playing in the orchestra, and re-connected in a chance encounter in Toledo in 1976.
’Bill, I discovered, was a certifiable fiddle-nut,’ Fulton stated in his book, The Fulton Collection: A Guided Tour by David Fulton.
’His study was crammed to overflowing with violin books, back issues of The Strad magazine, violin pictures, letters about violins, violin memorabilia, books about violinists, correspondence with violin dealers, etc.
’His enthusiasm awakened my memories of the great violins I had played in Chicago at William Lewis & Son’s shop and I was gradually drawn into his mania.’
Sloan purchased his first Stradivari violin, the 1727 ’Holroyd’, from Chicago’s Bein & Fushi in 1982, with Fulton accompanying him. The purchase led to Fulton buying a 1698 Pietro Guarneri of Mantua violin. Sloan later traded in the ‘Holroyd’ to acquire the ‘Leonora Jackson’ Stradivari violin.
Sloan would frequently lend out his instruments to professional musicans, including Roberto Cani, Philip Setzer, Philippe Quint and Oleh Krysa.
’The whole idea is that they were made to be played,’ Sloan said of his instruments.
He was also an amateur luthier, taking up the craft at the age of 65. He attended the Violin Society of America’s Oberlin Violin Makers Workshops for 14 years, stating that, despite being an amateur, ’I get to go because if I don’t come, they don’t get to see a Stradivari and a Guarneri.’
Using his Guarneri ‘del Gesù’ as a model, he made a handful of violins, calling them ‘Sloaneri’ violins.
Sloan spoke about his love for violins and violin making in a 2023 interview for World Trailblazers. Watch the video below:
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