* Miguel del Aguila; Retired Teacher’s Aide

Miguel del Aguila, a retired adult school teacher’s aide and father of renowned Oxnard-based composer Miguel Alfredo del Aguila, died of heart failure Thursday. He was 84.

Del Aguila was born in 1915 in Montevideo, Uruguay, the youngest of four children. His father, a shoe repairman, had emigrated from Spain.

At age 12, Del Aguila began training to become a barber and studied the violin. As an adult, he owned several businesses in Uruguay, including a barber shop, a transportation agency and a gift shop.

In 1974, Del Aguila and his wife, Iris, moved the family to the United States and settled in Woodland Hills. Six years later, the couple and their seven children moved to Oxnard. Del Aguila worked as a janitor and later, after learning English, as a teacher’s aide for the Center for Employment and Training in Oxnard.

Del Aguila’s son, Miguel, said his father’s violin playing inspired him to study music. He added that his father sang operatic music and was a fan of Rossini. He also enjoyed singing Spanish songs from the 1940s.

“He was singing from morning to night,” the 44-year-old composer said Sunday. “That was his trademark.”

The younger Del Aguila oversees “Voices”--an education program held in Ventura County that provides training and encouragement to young composers, whose efforts are made public with a summer concert.

“I have his ear for music,” Del Aguila said of his father. “He sang and he played until he couldn’t anymore.”

Along with his son and his wife of 47 years, Del Aguila is survived by sons Fidel, Nilo, Nelson, and Ariel; daughters Alba Psuhl and Everest Agostino; five grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

Services were held Saturday in Ventura. The arrangements were handled by Joseph P. Reardon Funeral Home in Ventura.