Choral conductor Paul Salamunovich, who worked on music for many films, passed away on Thursday at the age of 86.
His death was announced by publicist Libby Huebner who said the cause was multiple complications stemming from West Nile virus, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
He conducted choral music for film scores during his lifetime for such iconic works as The Godfather and Bram Stoker's Dracula. Salamunovich's work also appeared in Air Force One, Angels and Demons, Flatliners and A.I. Artificial Intelligence.
He served as the Los Angeles Master Chorale music director for a decade beginning in 1991 and also spent 60 years as the director of Choral Music at St. Charles Borromeo Church, reports Broadway.com.
LAMC president and CEO Terry Knowles said, "All of us in the Los Angeles Master Chorale family mourn the loss of Paul Salamunovich and extend loving condolences to the entire Salamunovich extended family."
In addition to being a renowned conductor who championed contemporary composers, such as Dominick Argent, he was a singer. His voice appears on several soundtracks, including for How the West Was Won, The Trouble With Angels and Judgment at Nuremberg.
Salamunovich was born in California on June 27, 1927 and enlisted in the Navy at Pearl Harbor after graduating from high school in 1945.