Dedicated, passionate, and a great musicians are a few words that described music professor Chris Mello.

Mello was a music professor at El Camino from 2009-2014. He was the director of the Guitar Program as well as the Jazz studies program.

“I think, musically, what was important to him was extremely hard work -[that] was what he wanted to see from his students- an absolute dedication to the craft, which is what he had,” William Doyle, music professor said.

Born into a Portuguese family in Boston Massachusetts, Mello developed his love of music as a child. Mello studied music at the University of North Texas where he received his master’s degree. He then went on to receive his doctorate degree from the University of Southern California (USC) were he met music professor Jon Menei.

“His students feared him, they respected him and I think in the very end there is a tremendous amount of respect for him,” Menei said.

In the classroom, Mello demanded perfection and excellence from his students. He constantly pushed them to be better.

“As a teacher he came off very stern and someone that was new to big band, like I was. It was pretty scary,” Tyler Johnson, 21, music major said. “As I got to know him better I learned that it was because he cared that much and he’s the one who actually motivated me to become a music major.”

Mello worked hard developing the guitar program and jazz program. As the director for each program, he changed the way music was taught and practiced.

“He wanted you to push [students] here so that when you were out in the real world you would be able to handle what was out there,” Menei, said.

Mello’s passion for teaching didn’t just stay with the confines of the music department. When the school was faced with accreditation difficulties, Mello stepped up and helped cultivate and implement the Student Learning Outcomes (SLO).

“He was also very active in the entire El Camino College curriculum development,” Menei said. “He got everyone on this entire campus on the same page to help with accreditation.”

Chris Mello died from cancer on June 19, 2014. The “Truth and Beauty” exhibit is dedicated to him and, recently, the jazz festival that was renamed the “Chris Mello Jazz Festival” was held in his honor. It brought students, faculty and lovers of music together to honor his memory.

“As a colleague working with him, he was hardworking, really dedicated (and had) really high standards. He really pushed his students to excel. As a friend, he was warm, he was kind, he was giving,” Doyle said.

His passion for teaching and his dedication to his students, as well as his craft, inspired many of his students to pursue music. “I think one of the things that Chris had was just an unbelievable desire to not only excel on his instrument but to inspire other people to excel in music,” Doyle said.