He's not a superhero. Just an avid arts patron who has worked for years to support any musical organization that he was passionate about or that needed a guiding hand getting back to the black.

Although no longer the executive director of the San Jose Jazz Society he is spending the next year as an active member on the Cathedral Basilica of Saint Joseph's bicentennial celebration committee.

And this Willow Glen resident knows a thing or two about music. Schiro, a pianist, started playing concerts at age 22. He fondly recalls one of his first performances with poet Kenneth Patchen, who recited his prose to the beat of Schiro's music. This event led to more small gigs, for birthdays, weddings and in places like Yosemite, for a mere $25 per week.

"I have a deep love for the music," Schiro says.

One of Schiro's favorite musical genres is jazz. Having seen countless performers and Frank Sinatra about 25 times, he says one of the most memorable performances was on a sunny afternoon at the San Jose Civic Auditorium. He remembers this particular show quite vividly for a number of reasons. One—his seat placement located in the front row of the auditorium—and how Sinatra mispronounced the name of "a young girl who will be big someday." The girl was Barbra Streisand, and Schiro recalls this moment with a little laugh, briefly taking him back to that time.

Now, years after that performance and his countless contributions to the Silicon Valley music community, he is proud of his ability to bring some top-notch musical acts to the area.

His musical journey began to flourish after he was contacted by San Jose Jazz Society founder Sammy Cohen to be a board member in the organization. Cohen originally asked about 25 people to be on the board, and only about seven, including Schiro, signed on.

The San Jose Jazz Society was started in 1986, with its first city festival in 1990. The event was a one-day, one-stage jazz performance. During those early festival years, Schiro actively helped lure musicians to the event. But in November of 1993, Schiro says, the society hit a brick wall financially and went $90,000 into debt.

So Schiro increased his participation with the society to help the struggling nonprofit. He started making deals with companies such as Pepsi, and in three months' time, he completely wiped out the debt.

"In November of 1993 I found out about the debt problem, and by April 1 of 1994, everyone was paid," Schiro says.

After Schiro got the books on track for the festival, the event went into overdrive. It grew from one stage to as many as 12 stages in 2000 and 2001.During his years with the festival, he went from executive director, to executive and art director to general director.

But reforming the society wasn't enough for Schiro—his real passion turned out to be helping children and members of the community become personally connected to music.

Assemblymember Rebecca Cohn has worked with Schiro in the past and appreciates his commitment to helping children learn to read music and play instruments.

"Henry realizes that everyone in Silicon Valley can benefit from exposure to the arts," Cohn says.

She emphasizes that his efforts have benefited children performing for the first time in a musical production or students discovering how to play an instrument.

To further his goals to help children, he joined forces with music television giant VH-1 and their "Save the Music" campaign. With the help of VH-1, Schiro raised $30,000 for several South Bay elementary schools that needed assistance building a musical program. His efforts helped purchase brand new instruments for students, enabling many to experience playing music for the first time.

"I tried to do everything I could to bring music to the schools," he says. "I got grant money to put top musicians in the schools, too."

Cathedral Basilica of Saint Joseph director of social ministry Sharon Miller met Schiro eight years ago. She contacted him after learning about his work as an effective event organizer. The two joined forces with the church's musical director to bring first-class musical groups to its annual Season of Hope, a series of holiday concerts that raise money for the poor.

Schiro took full advantage of his contacts in the musical community, and well-respected musical groups performed for the Season of Hope series. The nightly performances were free, but donations were requested to help support the less fortunate.

"He got the San Jose Opera involved, the San Jose Youth Symphony and the San Jose Chamber Orchestra, among other groups, " Miller says.

And she adds, "He has put in loads of free hours and has given so much of his time to booking groups months in advance."

Miller says one of Schiro's finest leadership qualities is his ability to build a program and help others around him learn to use the tools to carry it on when he is gone.

"He has assisted in creating something that will continue to go on," she says. "He wouldn't create anything that wouldn't be able to carry on without him. This has really turned into a tradition, with a collaboration between the arts and business community."

In the midst of his work with the jazz society, the festival, the Season of Hope and other projects, Schiro found time to bring large-scale Broadway productions to San Jose, something once reserved only for San Francisco.

Through his work with the Children's Musical Theatre of San Jose, he became acquainted with some executives at Columbia Artists in New York. After meeting with these executives, he was given the tools and advice to bring big productions, like Evita, to San Jose.

But he learned that transporting a big-time act to San Jose was more work than he thought.

"Once you sign the contract for the show, there is so much to do," he says. "There are hotel rooms to book, food to provide, agents to deal with and so many other things you need to do before the performers even arrive."

With the children's theater, he would invest his own money in productions, but he soon learned it would take a lot more than that to bring acts like Evita to San Jose.

"I never stopped to think how risky this business was," he says. "We would have to open on a Tuesday night so we could have eight shows a week, but opening on a Tuesday night wasn't a good thing. You learn you will have some wins and some losses."

And to the good fortune of many downtown San Jose businesses, bringing more people downtown for nightly shows meant more foot traffic and revenue.

"Henry also recognizes that when more than 50,000 ticket holders came to see Broadway productions at the Center for Performing Arts or 100,000 people attend the jazz festival downtown, local businesses benefit as well," Cohn says.

Yet for Schiro and his wife, Shirlee, the reasons for their dedication are simple.

"It has been so important for us to give back to our community. And, I think we've done a pretty good job."