CLEVELAND, Ohio - Allen Kofsky, a Cleveland Orchestra trombonist for 39 years who played under the direction of such renowned conductors as George Szell, Lorin Maazel and Christoph von Dohnanyi, died Thursday, June 7 at age 92.

Services will be 11 a.m. Sunday at the Berkowitz-Kumin-Bookatz Memorial Chapel, 1985 South Taylor Road, Cleveland Heights.

The Cleveland native started playing trombone at age 8.

In a 1993 Plain Dealer story he said he was drawn to the instrument because of the way it worked.

"Everything else had keys, and this thing had the long slide," he said.

"It's the only wind instrument without keys or valves," he added. "Each brass instrument has a harmonic series, and some notes will be out of tune. On trombone, you can make adjustments. You can lip it or use the slide."

He played with the Cleveland Orchestra when he was still in high school, as part of the Cleveland Pops in Public Hall.

During World War II he joined the Navy, hoping to play with the Navy Band, according to information provided by the Cleveland Orchestra.

But he scored so well in boot camp on the international Morse code, he was assigned to a minesweeper in the Pacific as a radio operator, seeing action at Guam and Okinawa.

After the war he enrolled in the Cleveland Institute of Music on the GI Bill, then was hired as principal trombone for the Kansas City Philharmonic, where he played for seven years.

He returned to Cleveland to help with his father's family business, as a bricklayer and stonemason, and continued musical pursuits part-time, playing at Musicarnival, the Hanna Theater, Indians games and on WGAR radio.

He also performed as a substitute trombonist for the Cleveland Orchestra for six years - a term he once described as the longest audition in the history of the orchestra.

"George Szell must have liked what he heard because he finally asked me if I wouldn't like to join the orchestra on a permanent basis," Kofsky said.

He was a triple threat in the orchestra, playing plays tenor trombone, euphonium and bass trumpet.

"The trouble with playing those instruments is you're playing trombone 99 percent of the time," Kofsky said in the 1993 Plain Dealer story. "I'm the garbage man."

When he retired in 2000, Kofsky said, "It's one of the greatest orchestras of the world, and I've had a great run."

But Kofsky, who also served as the orchestra's assistant personnel manager for 20 seasons, wasn't finished with music.

He taught at the Baldwin-Wallace College Conservatory of Music, performing with the school's brass quintet.

He also joined a group of retired musicians known as the Tough Old Pros Swingband (TOPS), whose members averaged 74 years old.

"We're doing it for kicks," said Kofsky, one of the group's "symphony cats."

His wife, Elaine, died in 2013. Survivors include his daughter, two sons and six grandchildren.

Interment at noon will be at Mt. Olive Cemetery, 27855 Aurora Road in Solon.

The family will receive friends at the residence 23914 Edgehill Drive, Beachwood, immediately following interment until 8:30 p.m., and on June 11 from 2-4 p.m. and 7-9 p.m.

Contributions are suggested to Hospice of the Western Reserve or the Wounded Warrior Project.