Harold Webman

WEBMAN-Harold. On October 14, 2004. Harold Webman, Co-Founder of H/B Webman & Co. passed away. Beloved husband to Belle, loving father to Beverly, Marcia and Dorothy, and treasured ``Papa'' to Kendall Mary, he valued friendship and music above all else. Hal was a highly regarded member of the music community for over 58 years. His legacy includes being: a reporter at Billboard Magazine where he wrote a column called Blues & Rhythm Notes; Editor-inChief at Downbeat Magazine; A&R man at Decca Records; business ventures with Benny Goodman and Tom Littlefield, chart writer and grandson of Woody Herman. Hal and his family also administer several music publishing catalogs which contain over 1,900 pieces and include works written by Duke Ellington, Harry James, Woody Herman, and Dick Hyman and performed by renowned artists such as Frank Sinatra, Tom Jones, Dean Martin and Tony Bennett. In 1983 Hal began to represent artists on royalty audits. Today his firm conducts audits for 70+ artists including many of the queens and kings of jazz such as Benny Goodman, Rosemary Clooney, Harry James, Cab Calloway, Dinah Shore, Woody Herman, and Billie Holiday. While consulting with Next Plateau Records and Salt-n-Pepa he was dubbed ``Halman'', a name that captured his playful spirit. Hal was a treasured friend to all he touched and left his family and friends with the following instructions: ``The key to living correctly is friendship. Please treat one another as good friends and love one another completelythe rest should fall in place from there.'' The funeral will be held on Sunday, October 17 at 12 noon at Frank E. Campbell, 1076 Madison Ave, New York and interment at Pinelawn Memorial Grounds. The family will receive visitors in their home for the remainder of the day. Donations should be directed to the research efforts of Dr. Harry Raftopoulos and Dr. David Posner, or to the VH1 Save the Music Fund. For fund donations contact: 917.549.7037 or dw73@aol.com.