Alan S. Bergman ’58

Alan died of cancer March 15, 2014, in Pasadena, Calif., where he had gone for medical treatment.

Alan grew up in Brooklyn and graduated from Lincoln High School. At Princeton, he was an active musician, playing drums in the University band and orchestra and also with Stan Rubin’s Tigertown Five and the Johnny Eaton Quartet. As an economics major he wrote his thesis on the music performing-rights industry. Alan was a member of Terrace Club. His senior-year roommates were Fred Quitkin, Marshall Katzman, Jerry Wool, and Mike Huckman. Mike spoke at Alan’s funeral in New York.

Alan earned a law degree at New York University and applied his legal talents to the music industry. His first job was as general counsel to Frank Loesser (composer of Guys and Dolls) and the Loesser music-publishing companies. He later became an attorney at ABC Records and, in 1973, formed his own law firm specializing in the music business. Alan’s clients included many prominent figures in jazz. At Alan’s funeral T.S. Monk, Thelonious’ son, performed a drum tribute. In 2005, Alan and his friends Ed White ’56, Pete Blue ’57, Dick Lincoln ’57, and Tom Artin ’60 reunited to form the Princeton Jazz Quintet and played regularly at the Princeton Club of New York.

The class sends sympathy to his daughters, Jennifer and Leslie; his sister, Betty; his wife, Patricia Kirkish; and his former wife, Alice.