Robert Black

Robert Black (email) has been a member of St. James Cathedral since 1996 when he joined the cathedral choir as a staff singer. Following a long career as an executive in both the business and non-profit sectors, he joined the Cathedral staff full-time in 2015 as director of administration. He was made a Canon of the cathedral in 2017. Before joining the cathedral staff, Robert served the cathedral as chair of the music and arts committee, communications committee chair, junior warden, diocesan convention delegate, and diocesan convention co-chair. 

Robert holds a degree in economics from Wheaton College (Illinois), where he also studied music and theater. He holds certificates in television production from Columbia College Chicago and non-profit management from the University of Illinois Chicago. After he graduated from college, his first career was in the retail sector, where he rose to become Vice President and General Manager of a chain of clothing stores. In 1987, he changed careers to become Executive Director and then President & CEO of The Chicago Sunday Evening Club, a non-profit media company producing weekly television programs about religion on WTTW-11 PBS in Chicago and national cable television. 

Robert has had a lifelong passion for music, especially choral music. At Wheaton College, his electives were primarily courses at the Wheaton College Conservatory of Music, where he studied piano, voice performance, music theory, music history, and choral conducting. He was named student conductor of the Men's Glee Club and Oratorio Society and, following graduation, sang professionally with the Hinsdale Opera Company and the Chicago Sunday Evening Club Chorale. He was the conductor of The Great Lakes Dredge & Philharmonic Society for 10 years and joined the St. James Cathedral Choir as a staff singer in 1996, where he continues to sing, now in his 30th year.