off radio". Later, according to Noël Bernard, "he realised that not politics but music was his calling". Until his death, his musical activity was rich, and included a Romanian translation of the rock opera Jesus Christ Superstar. On March 4, 1975, near midnight, Chiriac was stabbed near his car, in a Munich parking lot. An hour later, a female student returning home found him. The first suspect to be arrested was 17-year-old Mario Gropp, the last person seen with Chiriac that evening. In Romania, there was talk of a political assassination committed by the Securitate. Chiriac's body was cremated in Munich and his ashes brought back to Romania by his mother. He is buried in Bucharest's Reînvierea Cemetery. Legacy Journalists later recalled that his murder was greeted with sadness in Bucharest. Alexandru Sipa organised a soirée at the Brașov jazz club, in memoriam. In Bucharest, Phoenix was in the Electrecord studio, recording the album Cantofabule. Octavian Ursulescu said in an interview, "The news that a good friend to all of us, Cornel Chiriac, had been assassinated, came to us in the Tomis studio; we all cried like children..." On February 24, 1995, the Cornel Chiriac Jazz Club opened in Ploiești. A street in Pitești bears his name. Notes References Cristina Hurdubaia, "Cine l-a înjunghiat pe Emil Georgescu?" ("Who Stabbed Emil Georgescu?"), in Jurnalul Național, February 2, 2004 Nicolae Covaci — Phoenix însă eu..., Editura Nemira, Bucharest, 1994. External links Cornel Chiriac Homepage Cornel Chiriac at Radio3net Cornel Chiriac at Interioare On the European Jazz Federation Pentru cei ce s-au grăbit să plece dintre noi prea devreme... Lost in Music–The Cornel Chiriac Story 1941 births 1975 deaths People from Odesa Oblast University of Bucharest alumni 20th-century journalists Romanian jazz musicians Romanian journalists Romanian radio presenters Romanian defectors Romanian expatriates in Germany Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty people Romanian people murdered abroad People murdered in Germany Deaths by stabbing in Germany