Marvin Deane obit

MARVIN DEANE, a longtime promo man who was instrumental in the breaking of Rufus and Chaka Khan, Steely Dan, Jimmy Buffett, Jim Croce, Freddy Fender, Joe Walsh and others while at ABC/Dunhill in the early to mid-'70s, died Tuesday of heart failure at Cedars-Sinai in L.A. He was 79. The Brooklyn-born Deane, who also headed the Warner/Reprise promotion department, formed Tetragrammaton Records (Deep Purple’s original U.S. label) with Bill Cosby and Roy Silver. Over the years, he was awarded more than 60 gold and platinum plaques. He’s survived by wife Kathe, brothers Martin and Carl and sons Jeffrey and Andrew, the latter a producer and principal at Industry Entertainment. Services will take place at 4 p.m. Thursday at Hillside Memorial Park and Mortuary. Deane, who was an expert on how the national charts were then complied, was a well-liked, very nice man,. There are even some who say Deane taught Lavinthal and Beer everything they know about radio promotion. (8/18a)