John Christian Schreiner was blessed with big hands and long slender fingers that reached all 88 keys on the piano with ease, allowing him to tackle some of the most difficult compositions. He also had a good teacher. His father, Alexander, was the Mormon Tabernacle organist for more than 50 years, and became one of the most celebrated and popular organists of the 20th century.

John Schreiner worked as a business finance professor at the University of Minnesota, but he was a musician at heart. In 1982, he teamed up with his famous father to give two public performances of Robert Schumann's Piano Concerto in A Minor Piano Duet that drew large audiences to Crystal and St. Paul, according to his son Carl, of Edina.

"It was one of his proudest moments," he said.

Schreiner, of Plymouth, died Aug. 14 at North Memorial Medical Center in Robbinsdale of complications from pancreatitis. He was 75.

Schreiner played his first notes as a child and was a proficient pianist and organist by the time he graduated from East High School in Salt Lake City. He spent 2 1/2 years in Germany as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints before he returned home to earn an engineering degree from the University of Utah. He subsequently earned an MBA from Harvard University and a doctorate in finance from UCLA.

In 1969, he arrived at the University of Minnesota, where he taught business courses until 1984. Schreiner was a pioneer in the use of computers for business finance, Carl Schreiner said. He also served on the board of directors for such companies as Deluxe Corp., IDS and the Wall Street Mutual Fund. He also developed FedMinn, a software program for tax preparers that was used for planning and forecasting, his son said.

Schreiner was ordained as a Mormon bishop in 1971 and ministered to Mormon students on campus, said Thomas Holt, a local Mormon bishop. "He was a very bright fellow who was caring and interested in people. He concentrated on you and was a good listener."

Schreiner's main hobby was playing the piano and organ, something he did mostly in private or at services for local Mormon congregations, called wards, but occasionally in the public square, Carl Schreiner said.

In recent years, Schreiner was a regular on Pipedream Organ Tours, which were led by Michael Barone and named after the popular public radio program.

He took tours to several countries to see famous organs, with the highlight being a trip to the Church of St. Nicholas in Oberndorf, Austria, where Schreiner stood in front of the organ that was used the first time the Christmas hymn "Silent Night" was played, his son said.

In addition to his son Carl, Schreiner is survived by two other sons, Christian, of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and Nathan, of Bloomington; a daughter, Elizabeth, of Naperville, Ill.; a brother, Richard, of Detroit; two sisters, Gretchen Jackson and Julianne Johnson, both of Salt Lake City; and 11 grandchildren.

Funeral will be today in Salt Lake City.