BANGOR – The local arts community suffered a loss Thursday with the death of a Bangor man who made music through parts of five decades.

Nathaniel J. Diamond died at the Maine Veterans Home from complications from Alzheimer’s disease. He was 81.

Probably best remembered for his 32-year stint as conductor of the 195th Army National Guard Band, which ended in 1980, Diamond also taught at Bangor High School, was a supervisor of tournaments for the American Contract Bridge League, dabbled in photography and was an artist.

“If I had to sum him up in two words, it would be Renaissance man,” said his son, John Diamond.

Born in Malden, Mass., on Oct. 4, 1920, to Israel and Rose Diamond, he began a lifelong musical interest in high school when he and some friends formed a big band. It was the mid-1930s and Diamond played swing music with the 18-piece band.

Nat, as he was known to friends and family, furthered his musical career when he met Arthur Fiedler, a prominent violinist who would later conduct the Boston Pops. Diamond later joined Fiedler’s Youth Orchestra at age 14 on trumpet.

“As a result of his music career, he became friends with some of the big band leaders of the time,” said John Diamond. Though John Diamond didn’t know of their fame at the time, he said, Jimmy and Tommy Dorsey, Glenn Miller, Doc Severinson and Louis Armstrong, among others, all visited the family’s Bangor home.

“They were just friends of mom and dad’s,” he said.

After high school, Diamond joined the Air Force and was stationed at Dow Air Force Base in Bangor where he joined the 195th Army National Guard Band. He became their conductor in 1948. He was awarded the Meritorious Service Medal by the Maine National Guard for his accomplishments in 1980.

After high school, Diamond attended the University of Maine where he began to study engineering, but finished with a bachelor’s degree in mathematics. John Diamond said the reason his father switched majors was his eagerness to be a “teacher rather than a practitioner.”

“He saw a lot of parallels between the world of math and the world of music,” John Diamond said.

Diamond became a mathematics teacher at Bangor High School immediately after graduating from UMaine.

In the early 1960s, Diamond and his wife, Eleanor, began playing bridge. They participated in bridge tournaments, and Nat Diamond later became the only supervisor of tournaments for the American Contract Bridge League from Maine.

“He was devoted to his wife. He was a genuinely nice man,” said the Rev. James Haddix of All Souls Congregational Church.

John Diamond said he will remember his father for being “a great dad. He loved his kids and he always let us know it.”

He also said Nat Diamond’s life was lived to help others.

Leo Thayer, a friend who played in the Army National Guard Band for more than 30 years, said he will remember Diamond’s kindness both as a friend and as a teacher.

“He was a very good-hearted man,” said Thayer. “He was not only dedicated, but he had a personality the kids really liked.”

“He always said ‘The easiest thing in the world is to be nice to someone,'” John Diamond said.