Music industry veteran Rich Fitzgerald died earlier this week at his home in Los Angeles after a battle with cancer. Fitzgerald, who was 64, is survived by Mary, his wife of 24 years; Hunter, his 22 year-old son; and a daughter, Sloane, aged 20.

Fitzgerald was born in San Francisco, but his family soon moved to Seattle where, as a child, he compiled his own hit charts. After service in the Air Force, he began his music business career stocking orders for a local Seattle one-stop distributor. In the early 1970s, he did local radio promotion for Capitol Records and moved to Los Angles in 1976 to head national promotion for Robert Stigwood’s RSO label, then starting up. During his four-year stint with RSO, Rich developed and ran record breaking campaigns on behalf of the label’s roster that included the BeeGees, Eric Clapton, Yvonne Elliman, Andy Gibb, Irene Cara and the soundtracks to Saturday Night Fever, Grease and Fame. When RSO President Al Coury founded Network Records, Rich moved to the Elektra-distributed label but shortly thereafter was recruited to help establish fledgling Geffen Records. As Warner Bros. then distributed Geffen releases, he soon caught the attention of promotion executives there and, in 1983, was named Vice President of Promotion for Warner Bros. while still responsible for Geffen releases.

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A service in memory of Rich Fitzgerald will be held at St. Jude Catholic Church, 32032 West Lindero Canyon Rd., Westlake Village, CA 91361 this Friday, Aug. 19, at 2 p.m.
Current plans are that Richies Memorial Service will be held at
St. Jude Catholic Church. 32032 West Lindero Canyon Road Westlake Village, CA 91361, this Friday, August 19th, at 2 PM. No worries about dressing up or wearing black.
This will be a spiritual celebration of his remarkable life. I will post here again if there are any changes or additions. Love to you all, Mary.