Max Dinning Bishop, 85, died of heart failure at his home in Brighton, Michigan, on Wednesday, January 15, 2025, two months after undergoing open-heart surgery. Max is survived by his wife of 57 years, Becki, three daughters, Lisa Davisson (Phil), Catherine (Cat) Bishop, Faith Dillon (the late Andy) and one granddaughter, Caylynn Jade Bishop. He is also survived by his brother, William Bishop, stepsiblings, Marcia and Richard Ross Mathews, and several nieces and nephews.

Max was from a small town, but he had a wide range of interests that made him a very fun person to be around. He loved music and was especially fascinated by the musical form of Flamenco, predominantly found in Spain. He also found history fascinating and liked to read books about history as his favorite bedtime reading. He loved to travel (especially to Spain), and he loved to learn about different cultures from around the world. When people who knew him described Max, they inevitably used words like these: kind, gentle, thoughtful, sensitive, respectful, warm, loving, highly intelligent, curious, creative and tender-hearted. He was also witty, funny, and occasionally silly. He was amiable, affable, and an “all around good guy”. He had a strong sense of honor and was a man of integrity. Above all he was devoted to his family and friends.

Max was born in Ionia, Michigan on November 18, 1939, to DeVilo S. Bishop and Hazel Dinning Bishop, and graduated from Ionia High School in 1958. He then attended the University of Michigan with a Navy scholarship, graduating in 1963 with a bachelor’s degree in history (Near Eastern Studies). Following college Max served in the U. S. Marines for four years, with overseas duty in Okinawa. In February 1967, while visiting friends in Ann Arbor following his honorable discharge (as a Captain) from the Marines, Max met Becki Brogan, a senior at the University of Michigan, who shared his interest in Spain and Spanish culture, because of her experience living in Spain as an exchange student while in high school. She encouraged Max to pursue his dream to visit Spain and continue lessons in the Flamenco guitar. He left for Spain the day after Becki graduated and a few months later, she joined him in Madrid, where they became engaged. The two were married nine months after they met, on November 25, 1967, in Houston, Texas, where her family lived at the time.

Max and Becki lived all their married life in Michigan, starting in Dearborn, where Max worked for IBM. In 1975, they moved their small family from Royal Oak to the city of Detroit to join a community of people associated with the Episcopal Church of the Messiah on the corner of East Grand Blvd and Lafayette, not far from Belle Isle. They lived in Detroit for 13 years as part of the Messiah Community, before moving to Southfield and then on to Brighton, where they have lived since 1998. Some of their dearest, and most steadfast friends today are from these Messiah years.

In 1997, Max went to Spain to attend a Flamenco course that he had learned about from an online contact. His interest in Flamenco music had never waned, and he always wanted to improve his guitar playing skills. After his first visit, Max returned year after year (for 25 years), because he fell in love with the seaside town where it was held (Sanlucar de Barrameda) and with the whole experience of learning from Flamenco professionals and being with other people who loved this music too. Becki usually accompanied him, and together they made friends from around the world who shared their appreciation for this very Spanish art form, and who also loved the food and culture of Spain.

Max’s professional career began with work for IBM and continued in various aspects of computer technology and voice recognition for different companies until his retirement. It paid the bills, but his employment was never Max's passion. After he retired, Max decided he would pursue a long-suppressed dream to make guitars, not just to play them. With help from one significant mentor, and numerous books and online classes, he gradually learned this craft and by the year of his death had built about 40 guitars. One of his biggest regrets, on facing his own death, was that he wouldn’t get to finish the last guitar he was building for sons of a friend, or to build a Terz guitar, an antique design that fascinated him. Making guitars was his final passion, and one that kept him fighting to live. But his brave and gentle heart could not keep up with his dreams. Rest in Peace and Rise in Glory, Max. You are loved by many.

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