Robert Cole served on the NFA board of directors from its founding in 1973 – 1975. He was a co-Program Chair of the 1974 convention in Pittsburgh and NFA President in 1979. Mr. Cole graduated from the Curtis Institute of Music, where he was a pupil of William Kincaid. He was a member of the Philadelphia Orchestra for 13 years, solo flutist with the Robin Hood Dell Orchestra, and a member of the Philadelphia Woodwind Quintet. Leaving Philadelphia, he moved to Madison Wisconsin, where he was a professor in the School of Music at the University of Wisconsin for 27 years.