On August 30th, 2016 Fullerton College lost music instructor Roger Shew to a rare form of cancer, known as malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumors (MPNST).

Shew is survived by his wife, Director of Vocal Jazz Studies at Fullerton College, Jamie Shew, and their son Simon.

Shew was born on December 26, 1974. He was a longtime upright jazz bassist, who played bass around the world, and with many musicians such as Jeff Miley, Jane Ira, Broom, Billy Hart, John Abercrombie and Dominique Eade.

Videos of him playing can still be found online, with him playing bass with the Dan Delaney Jazz Trio, Jeff Miley, Matt Politano Trio, David Sill Quartet and Aime Nolte Quartet.

The most notable video of Roger Shew playing with the Fullerton College Jazz Cadre, is on the Fullerton College Fine Arts Youtube channel, which includes an interview of Shew, a bass solo by Shew and him playing while his wife Jamie Shew sings.

The video can be seen here:

He taught applied electric and acoustic bass here at Fullerton College, and was instructor for Laguna Beach School District Jazz Band.

Besides Fullerton College, he was teaching at Mount San Antonio College, Laguna Beach Middle School, and Laguna Beach High School before he passed.

The celebration in remembrance of his life shall be held in the Campus Theatre this Sunday, September 25th at 3 PM.

If you would like to share your condolences or make a donation to his family, a gofundme page setup for his family can be found here.