BILLBOARD'S WHITE REMEMBERED

Not that the turnout was at all surprising, but Wednesday’s memorial to the late Billboard editor Timothy White, held at the New School auditorium (where they film Inside the Actor’s Studio), was packed to the gills with music industry friends and colleagues.

The touching and heartfelt program started with a musical tribute by Phoebe Snow, who sang "I’ll Be Seeing You," after which longtime colleague and currently VNU Business Media COO Howard Lander introduced the afternoon’s many speakers. First to take the podium was Sony Music Chairman/CEO Thomas D. Mottola, who originally met White in the mid-'70s through mutual friend, John Mellencamp. With a raspy voice, Mottola apologized for his demeanor saying, "This isn’t like in board meetings where
I can take out my tap shoes and do a dance." He went on to describe White as "a man of truth," a sentiment echoed by all of the other speakers, which included Billy Joel, Bob Merlis, Bill Flanagan, Melinda Newman, BMI's Robin Ahrold (on behalf of Frances Preston), Michael Ellis, Seymour Stein, producer Russ Titleman and White’s self-described "best friend in the whole world," Mitch Glazer.

Each had volumes to speak but limited their thoughts to a funny story or two—when it came to Timothy, there were a lot of great stories. Most emotional was when his wife, Judy, tried to encapsulate their many years together and son, Alex, sang a loving tribute. Most attendees would agree that it’s unlikely they’ll ever meet someone quite like Timothy ever again. He was described as "a man without guile or preconceptions" (Joel), "promoting ethical behavior in a business that has no ethics" (Titleman), "someone with incredible guts" (Flanagan) who "could care less about fashion and gossip" (Glazer) and, as his wife so eloquently stated, "he lived his life like every day was his last…or his first."

Among the many from different worlds who showed to pay their respects, as befit White's incredibly wide range of intellectual interests, were actors Bill Murray, Kelly Lynch and Wendy Malick, musician Jonatha Brooke, industryites Ron Shapiro, Daniel Glass and Bruce Lundvall and PR vets Liz Rosenberg, Kathy Schenker, Linda Carbone, Christine Wolff, Ellen Solis, Jamie Roberts, Susan Swan and Felice Ecker.