SAN JOSE, Calif., Sept. 17 (UPI) -- Ira F. Brilliant, a real estate developer and one of the world's foremost experts on the music of Beethoven, has died at age 84 in San Jose, Calif.
Brilliant died Sept. 10 of congestive hart failure at his home, The New York Times reported.
Brilliant's passion for the music of Beethoven (1770-1827) led him to found one of the world's most comprehensive centers for the study of the composer.
The Ira F. Brilliant Center for Beethoven Studies, housed at San Jose State University, contains first editions, musical instruments and a lock of Beethoven's hair -- which was found to contain 10 times the lead content of that found in the hair of a modern citizen.
The lock of hair is famous for helping explain the composer's chronic health problems.
Trained as a chemist, Brilliant became a successful commercial real estate developer in Arizona. He began collecting Beethoven memorabilia in the mid-1970s.
During World War II, Brilliant served in the U.S. Army in Europe, where he did research on chemicals used to treat soldiers' uniforms to protect them from gas attacks.
Born in Brooklyn in 1922, Brilliant is survived by his wife, son, brother and one grandchild.
