My friend Jeremy Gott, who has died aged 87, was in his youth a pianist who gave concerts all over Europe before devoting his life to music education in Leeds. There he was among a group of musicians employed by the West Riding of Yorkshire education committee to visit schools and to talk about and play music.

A very shy, humble and gentle man, Jeremy became a different person in front of a large number of children, holding them spellbound as he told them stories about the pieces of music he played to them, and showed them the workings of the piano.

The younger son of Maud (nee Appleyard), a dentist, and Arthur Gott, a doctor and talented amateur pianist, Jeremy was brought up in Ilkley in a household full of music. There were two Steinways and a Bechstein in the music room at home, and his parents started a concert club in the town. Jeremy met many well-known visiting musicians, including the oboist Leon Goosens, whom Jeremy accompanied, and the cellist Paul Tortelier.

As a child Jeremy learned both the piano and the violin, and at the Royal Academy of Music studied the piano with Louis Kentner and Cyril Smith. Two years at the Paris Conservatoire followed, and he was one of only two pianists chosen to represent Britain at the International Chopin piano competition in Warsaw in 1960, when it was won by Maurizio Pollini.

Before his marriage in 1964 to Sue Wormald, his father’s receptionist and a keen amateur singer, Jeremy gave up his life as a travelling recitalist, taking the steady job in education that lasted until the education authority made all the musicians redundant in 1989, when he retired.

The couple set up home initially in York before returning to Ilkley. On retirement, when he and Sue moved to Gatehouse of Fleet, Kirkcudbrightshire, Jeremy became fascinated by the organ at the Victorian church at Anwoth. He taught himself to play it, and when Anwoth closed as a church in 2002 he played at Gatehouse parish church, sharing the services there with my husband, Geoff, until ill health forced Jeremy to retire last August.

As well as his musical contribution to the community, as local choir accompanist and organist, he took a full part in the area’s society, from membership of the local Probus club to helping at the local charity shop, and was always ready to help anyone who needed it.

He is survived by Sue, his daughters Mandy and Becca, and four grandchildren, Kate, Callum, Philip and Hannah.