James David Hagan

David (James David) Hagan, age 82, passed away on Sunday, January 11, 2026, at his home Sharon, with his wife at his side. Born in Frederick, Maryland on February 18, 1943, he was the son of the late Henry David and Bettina Adele (Colliflower) Hagan.

David was raised in Frederick where he attended local public schools, studying piano, also playing bassoon in the Maryland State Orchestra, and drums in the high school band. After graduating from Frederick High School in 1960, David continued his education with one year at John’s Hopkins, headed for Electrical Engineering. The one piano lesson a week at Peabody Conservatory was too great a draw to ignore, so he transferred there, studying with Mieczyslaw Munz and Konrad Wolff. David earned both his bachelors and masters of music performance at the Conservatory and later received a Stoeckel Fellowship at Yale Summer School of Music and Art in Norfolk, Connecticut to study with Paul Ulanowsky. A beginning of summer cocktail party would change his life, when David was introduced to Paul's daughter Karin, whom he married a year later after a whirlwind courtship. The couple were wed on August 14, 1968, in his hometown of Frederick, Maryland, and made their married home in Arlington, Massachusetts. David and Karin would move to Sharon, Massachusetts in 1971, discovering a community and neighbors that he would treasure for decades to come.

David's career began at his alma mater, the Peabody Prep as a piano instructor. He later taught at the College of Notre Dame of Maryland in Baltimore, Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, and, after his move to Massachusetts, at the New England Conservatory in Boston. He also served as a piano instructor at Connecticut College in New London and Milton Academy in Milton, Massachusetts, and in his home studio. The majority of David's career was spent at the New England Conservatory's Preparatory and Continuing Education School, as an instructor in piano, duo-piano, and chamber music. In addition to inspiring students in the classroom, David was a world class performer, captivating audiences with the expressive melodies of Romantic composers such as Chopin, Liszt, and Brahms, but exploring the whole range. He performed across the United States in New York, Baltimore, Boston, and Washington, DC, as well as across the globe, in London, Berlin, Hamburg, and Panama City. His talents were highlighted on National Public Radio and can be heard on a variety of records produced by Columbia, Vox, Golden Crest, Newport Classics, and the Musical Heritage Society. David was primarily a soloist, but often performed in concert with other musicians as well. He and the late Martin Berkofsky recorded and then performed the Bruch Concerto for Two pianos in Germany, and elsewhere. David and his sister, Christine Hagan, also a superb pianist, often performed as a duo in Massachusetts and Virginia, playing four-hand and two piano repertoire. A remarkable pianist, David continued to play piano well after his retirement from teaching in 2007, until Alzheimer’s and increasing hearing loss began to make it first unpleasant for him, and then impossible.

In addition to his love for the piano, David was passionate about model trains. He amassed an immense HO scale train collection, with his attic housing his layout of tracks and railcars, and boxes and shelves of additional rolling stock. David also enjoyed photography, mainly processing black and white film, but dabbling in color as well.

Contrary to common sense for a musician, David loved building things. He did most of the work on rebuilding their kitchen, rebuilt the stairs to open a wall, widened a door in a load-bearing wall. He built tables, cabinets, drawer pulls, a chandelier.

David and Karin traveled, visiting the British Isles over a dozen times visiting Ulanowsky family, driving small rental cars everywhere, car trips to New England, to Maryland and Virginia, and cross-country on Amtrak twice.

Beloved husband of Karin (Ulanowsky) Hagan

Loving and cherished brother of Christine Hagan of Arlington, Virginia; brother-in-law of Philip Ulanowsky and his wife Susan of Purcellville, Virginia. Brother-in-law of the late Alex Ulanowsky and his late wife Martha.

Cherished uncle of Sampurna Ulanowsky, Lakshman Ulanowsky, and Katherine Ulanowsky and her husband Erlin Velberg, and Andreas Ulanowsky. He was the adored and adoring great-uncle/granddad (Bumpy) of Alex Velberg and his partner Teddi Shapiro, and Riley Velberg.

Much loved “found grandpa” of neighbors Galen and Walden Sinha. Also survived by many extended relatives family, colleagues, and friends, on High Street and beyond.

In his last year, much of David’s care was handled by wonderful people from the Home Instead agency. They became family to whom a great debt of gratitude is owed.

At the request of David's family, all immediate services will be private, with green interment at Rock Ridge Cemetery in Sharon.

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations in David's name may be made to one's charity of choice.

Arrangements by James H. Delaney & Son Funeral Home, Walpole.