Dick Jurgens; Composer and Big Band Leader

Dick Jurgens, 85, composer and big band leader who co-wrote such 1940s hits as “Elmer’s Tune,” “One Dozen Roses” and “Careless.” In addition to those three tunes, which were all on “The Lucky Strike Hit Parade” at the same time, Jurgens co-wrote “If I Knew Then,” “It’s a Hundred to One,” “A Million Dreams Ago” and his band’s theme song, “Day Dreams Come True at Night.” A native of Sacramento, Jurgens got his start as a trumpet player in the ballroom of the state capital’s Travelers Hotel. He later became a hit with his own band at San Francisco’s St. Francis Hotel and probably achieved his greatest fame at Chicago’s Aragon Ballroom in the late 1930s. He was a Marine during World War II, organizing and leading a band that performed in the Pacific Islands. On Thursday in Sacramento of cancer.