SANTA BARBARA, CA (CelebrityAccess) — Eddie Rosenblatt, a veteran label executive known for his long tenure at Geffen Records, died on July 16th. He was 89.
According to a statement from his publicist, Rosenblatt passed at a hospital in Santa Barbara from complications of pneumonia.
A New York native, Rosenblatt attended Brooklyn College and did a stint in the U.S. Army in the 1950s before he relocated to Cleveland for his first music industry role at Cosnat Distribution, and later, Mainline Distribution, where he met fellow music legends such as Phil and Leonard Chess.
In 1967, Rosenblatt relocated to Los Angeles for a role as Sales Director at A&M Records. He went on to co-found the independent label, TA Records with Steve Binder.
In 1971, Rosenblatt joined Warner Bros. Records as Director of Sales and helped to oversee the launch of WEA Distribution and was eventually named Vice President of Sales and Radio Promotion.
Nine years later, he joined with David Geffen to launch Geffen Records and served as the label’s first president, and helped to break artists such as Peter Gabriel, Quarterflash, and Whitesnake.
Following the sale of Geffen in 1990. Rosenblatt joined Geffen’s new project, DGC, again serving as the label’s first president. Rosenblatt was later named as the successor for DreamWorks SKG after Geffen announced he was stepping down in 1995.
“If you think of David as the vision behind Geffen Records, then Eddie is the heart. That label is not just profitable, it’s got hipness and heat, and Eddie is the glue that has held it together all these years,” Warner Records Executive Mo Ostin said, according to an obituary provided by Rosenblatt’s publicist.
In 1998, amid the consolidation of the label industry, Rosenblatt stepped away from the label business and relocated with his wife, Barbara “Bobbi” Rosenblatt, to Montecito, where they engaged in local charitable activities, including a role on the board of the non-profit outpatient Sansum Clinic.
Eddie is survived by his four children, Michael, Steven, Peter, and Gretchen, six grandchildren, and one great-grandchild. His wife Bobbi, to whom he was married for 68 years, passed away in 2023.
A memorial service is still to be planned and details will be shared with friends and family in the coming weeks. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made in Eddie’s memory to the Sansum Clinic, a nonprofit healthcare organization, at https://www.sansumclinic.org/donate-now.
