Harold "Hal" Kant, the Grateful Dead's longtime principal lawyer and corporate general counsel who spent more than three decades helping protect the legendary rock band's lucrative musical legacy, has died. He was 77.
Kant died of pancreatic cancer Oct. 19 at home in Reno, said his son, Jonas.
Once described in the National Law Journal as a "conservative, Republican, poker-playing opera fan," the bearded, Bronx-born lawyer launched his more than 35-year association with the Northern California band in 1971.
Grateful Dead lawyer: The obituary in Sunday's California section on Grateful Dead lawyer Harold "Hal" Kant said that Ben & Jerry's Cherry Garcia ice cream flavor was introduced in the early 1990s. It was introduced in 1987.
Grateful Dead co-founder Bob Weir described Kant last week as a "dear friend," who was "most instructive to us."
"The Grateful Dead was known for its revolutionary approach to the music industry, and Hal was part and parcel of that," Weir said in a statement. "We wanted a place for humanity in a business that more resembled a nightmare circus than much else, and he helped us find it."
With tongue in cheek, Kant's Grateful Dead business cards showed his title with the band, whose lead guitarist, Jerry Garcia, died in 1995, simply as "Czar."
"He oversaw every aspect of their business, whether licensing, touring, trademarks, merchandise or Garcia getting busted for drugs," said Jonas Kant, a music lawyer and a senior vice president at Sony/ATV Music Publishing.
"They were known for being a free-loving, peace-loving band, but he helped them run everything like a structured business," he said.
Kant, who accompanied the band on various tours, "did all of their recording and music publishing agreements," his son said. "He was renowned for being very much ahead of his time in terms of protecting the artists' and songwriters' rights."
Kant ensured that the master recordings of the Grateful Dead's music would be owned by the band, his son said. He also enlisted an Oakland law firm to handle enforcement of the band's trademarks.
Dennis McNally, author of the 2002 biography "A Long Strange Trip: The Inside History of the Grateful Dead," said Kant "was a significant force in keeping them together by having the business function well so that they could do what they wanted to do, which is play music."
When Ben & Jerry's ice cream produced a new flavor, Cherry Garcia, in the early 1990s, McNally wrote in his book, the company did so without even discussing the idea with Garcia. Although Garcia was unconcerned when it was first brought to his attention -- "At least they're not naming a motor oil after me, man," he said -- Kant convinced him that the issue should be addressed.
