Former HMV executive Ken Whitmarsh has died after a year long battle with cancer.
Whitmarsh joined HMV as a sales assistant at the chain's flagship Oxford Street store at the start of the sixties, rising to be store supervisor and later store manager. He led the shop during the latter half of the decade, a key time for HMV's London base, it being a boom time for both British music and vinyl sales.
To illustrate the importance of the Oxford Street store during that period, at one point it alone sold 2.5% of all recorded music in the UK. With that in mind it's no surprise the store was a high priority for the buoyant London record industry, nor that Whitmarsh therefore became a prominent figure in the business. He continued to run the store through the early seventies, before moving to HMV HQ to help with the expansion of the company's UK wide chain.
Another former HMV exec, Mike Autton, has written a long tribute to his former colleague for Music Week. He remarks: "I had the good fortune of working with Ken for many years when we were both at the 363 store. Ken was mentor to a great many of us in the seventies and provided a very good start to many careers. He had a way of motivating us through his own enthusiasm. He was approachable and the door to his office was always open to anyone who wanted to speak with him. We all had a great respect for him. He was also good fun to be with".
You can read Autton's full tribute at this URL:
www.musicweek.com/story.asp?sectioncode=1&storycode=1038927&c=1